like our Liturgy; as all Easterns like some settled form of worship. He said that the Latin Catholics were their greatest enemies, as they were continually spreading reports against the mission, telling the people that they would sooner see them Mahometans than Protestants. The Greek Church, on the other hand, did not discountenance or forbid the reading of the Scriptures. We went to the C.M. Schools, where we met Mr. Palmer, the chief teacher, who has been there for twenty-two years. There were about fifty boys, boarders, and some young men training for teachers for schools in connection with the mission. This is a very interesting part of the work. They seemed to be very anxious to teach others. They have a very pretty church, where we went one Sunday afternoon, and heard the Litany and catechising in Arabic.

A day or two before leaving Jerusalem we took a walk on the walls from the Jaffa Gate nearly to St. Stephen's Gate, and in this way got a good view of the interior and exterior of the city, which might well bring to our minds the words of the psalmist, 'Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death' (Ps. xlviii.). And also even at this day it can be said that 'Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together' (Ps. cxxii.).

W

CHAPTER VI.

THE DEPARture for THE NORTH.

E bade farewell to Jerusalem on Friday, April 2d, feeling sorry to leave after remaining a month there. We were quite a small party,

consisting of my wife, the Rev. J. M. Moss of Liverpool, and myself, our dragoman being Gabriel. We soon lost sight of the city, and made for Mizpeh, from the top of which we had a splendid view. Mizpeh (watch - tower), called also Neby Samwil, commands an extensive view, including the western plain and the Mediterranean Sea on one side, as well as Olivet and Jerusalem in the distance, backed by the range of Moab. Stanley says it was probable that on this height Richard Cœur de Lion, advancing from his camp in the Valley of Ajalon, stood in sight of Jerusalem, but buried his face in his armour with the noble exclamation, 'Ah! Lord God, I pray that I may never see Thy Holy City, if so be that I may not rescue it from the hands of Thine enemies.'

Here Samuel showed Saul to the people, and they shouted, God save the king!'

On descending we saw Gibeon, where 'the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream,' saying, 'Ask what I shall give thee,' and he asked for an understanding heart (1 Kings iii.). From this place the Gibeonites came to Gilgal to Joshua, and obtained a league with him against their enemies (Josh. ix.).

After having a rest and refreshment at Ramallah, we passed on to Beeroth. It was near this where the Virgin Mary missed her child Jesus, and sought Him among her kinsfolk and acquaintance, but found Him not. Then we came to Bethel (house of God). This is the spot where Abraham pitched his tent when he journeyed through the land; and here Jacob had that wonderful dream (Gen. xxviii.), when he saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven,' and the angels of God ascending and descending on it,' and therefore he set up a pillar, and from that rough stone that Jacob set up grew the sanctuary of Bethel. Probably this was near the spot where Abraham before him had set up an altar unto the Lord (Gen. xii. 8). To this sanctuary at Bethel came the man of God to warn Jeroboam, but by being disobedient himself he was slain by a lion. Amos said, 'Bethel shall come to nought,' and verily his words have come true. After leaving Bethel we passed through a long narrow valley, called the Robber's Valley. It was beginning to get dark, and the darkness added to the look of desolation and loneliness; and as if to add still more to our fears, the dragoman said that

thirty years ago a detachment of seventy soldiers could not have passed safely through this valley.

SINFIL.

We were thankful to arrive at our encampment at Sinjil, where our good cook Jacob and attendant Barak, together with the muleteers, gave us a hearty welcome, and we found ourselves soon enjoying a good dinner prepared by Jacob. The next day we were up early, and starting at 7.30, rode by Turmus Aya to Shiloh. We first examined some ruins of a temple opposite to the site of Shiloh, which reminded us of the Egyptian temples, having a pylon for the entrance. Then we went to the ruins of Shiloh, scattered over a slight eminence, which rises in one of those softer and wider plains characteristic of this part of Palestine. The name Seilun still exists, and together with the exact description of its situation in the book of Judges (xxi. 19), enables us to identify this spot with Shiloh. Here once stood the great sanctuary where Eli ministered, and to this place Hannah brought her son Samuel that he might serve the Lord; and he did so, in childlike obedience saying, 'Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.' We rode on through the Valley of Musa, resting under a fine old oak, and continuing our journey through the very beautiful. and fertile Valley of Mukna to Jacob's Well. This was indeed a most interesting place, and as we read

that fourth chapter of St. John's Gospel, there seemed to be sitting there our Lord, wearied by His journey, but speaking to the woman of Samaria, satisfying her thirst with living water. The well is very deep, and is partly covered up, and much neglected. We may rejoice that although this well is neglected, the Spring of Living Water is flowing forth all over the world, and thirsty souls are drinking in Eternal Life. A little way beyond this we came to Joseph's Tomb. The building surrounding and covering the tomb of the patriarch Joseph was entirely rebuilt at the expense of Mr. E. T. Rogers, consul at Damascus in 1868. I see no reason to doubt that Joseph was buried here, for it is distinctly written in Joshua xxiv. 32, 'And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem.'

SHECHEM.

We soon after this arrived at our encampment at Shechem, now called Nablus, being a corruption of 'Neapolis,' the 'New Town' founded by Vespasian after the ruin of the older Shechem (Gen. xii. 6).

This is a most beautiful spot. Here Abraham came after he had crossed the Jordan, and Jacob bought a