Morning. EITHER from association of ideas, or from the barking of dogs, the wailing of jackals, and the tinkling of bells, my head has been crowded with visions of shepherds, and flocks, and wild beasts, and wild Arabs, all night long. Then, ere it was fully light, the reality was before me, and I have been out watching an Oriental village wake into life as the morning comes on. There were some astir long before the dawn, loading donkeys and camels, and setting off as if going to market. Then came ploughmen, goad in hand, and plough and yoke on the shoulder, driving their tiny oxen afield. Later still, women and girls descended to the fountain with their "pitchers" to draw water; and as the sun rose over these dark mountains of Naphtali, the doors were thrown open, and forth from the folds poured thousands of goats, sheep, and young cattle, radiating in all directions, and spreading themselves over the hills in eager haste to crop their fragrant food while the dew lay upon it. The whole scene has been one of entire novelty in my experience.

Shep

herds' tents.

Here, now, is another, equally novel, perhaps, and quite as agreeable. Salîm has placed our breakfast, smoking hot, on this great rock, that the muleteers, while we enjoy it, may strike the tent and prepare for marching. In a few minutes our tabernacle will disappear from its place entirely and for ever. It is to this that Hezekiah compares his life in the cutting off of his days: "Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent" 1 --- suddenly and wholly, leaving not a trace behind. And such is life at the best and longest-a pilgrimage in tents soon to be struck, folded up, and vanish away, "till the heavens be no more."

* [Neither Tibnîn nor Hunfn is a Scriptural name. They are or were strong fortresses, that figure in the history of the Crusades, and in later history. In this chapter we cross the boundary between Asher and Naphtali. Naphtali is remarkable for striking highland and sylvan scenery. The words of Jacob, "Naphtali is a hind let loose," have been also translated, "Naphtali is a spreading terebinth,"-quite the aspect of this district. Though the tribe of Naphtali was not a distinguished one, its territory was the scene of some great events, such as Abraham s defeat of the Mesopotamian kings, and Joshua's defeat of the confederate Canaan-ites of the north.-ED.]

Isa. xxxviii. 12.

XV.

We may leave the servants to pack up and pursue the regular route over CRAPTER that hill to the north-east on the road to Tibnîn, while we take down that wady Shimaliyeh, and thence northward to the ruins of Em el 'Awamîd. In no other place will you find such perfect specimens of ancient oil-mills and Oilpresses, in a word, such a complete exhibition of what a large Phoenician agri- presses cultural village was. That road which passes over the hill to the south leads up a long ravine to Yathîr, thence into the great wady Aîûn, which it follows for many miles, past the site of Hazor, past Rumeîsh, and Kefr Bûr'îam, and Gish, to Safed and Tiberias. There are many ruins along it; indeed, every village occupies the site of an ancient town. We shall visit some of them on our return.

And this is Em el 'Awamîd-the mother of columns--and a curious place it El em is. But nearly all these pillars are square.

These are the upright posts of the oil-presses. You observe that they stand in pairs about two feet apart, having a deep groove in the inner faces,

ILS

'Awamid

running from top to bottom. In this groove moved the plank on the top of the olive cheeses, forced down by a beam, as a lever, acting against this huge stone which lies on the top of the columns. Here is the stone trough into which the oil ran; and close by are two immense basins, in which the olives were ground to a pulp by the stone wheel that was rolled over them. This basin is nearly eight feet in diameter, and it must have cost no small labour to cut it out of the mountain and bring it to this spot. It is polished perfectly smooth by long use. Here is another basin, smaller and more concave.

It may have served to tread the olives with the feet-a process not now used, Treading but to which there is an allusion in Micah vi. 15: "Thou shalt tread the the olive olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil."

Were all these upright and prostrate columns parts of oil-presses?

Most of them. A few seem to have belonged to houses, or were the posts

PART

Ravines

of gateways, but the great majority were presses, and they speak of vast oliveorchards, not a trace of which now remains. When we reflect that these ruins have been broken up, and carried off to the surrounding villages from time immemorial, we may well be astonished at the number which still remain. And here let me inform you, for your guidance among ruins, that it does not follow that every village whose houses are built, in whole or in part, of large old stone, must necessarily be ancient, not even if it should itself be now a ruin. That village to the west of us is almost entirely made of such stone, taken from here, and it is fast falling into decay, though it may not be five hundred years old.

What a wild, broken region spreads up the mountain to the east of us!

Those ravines are different branches of the great wady Jelo, which enters and roads, the plain of Tyre nearly opposite the city. Our road lies in the bottom of this branch from the south-east, called wady Habis, and it is time we should descend into it and prosecute our journey; and, when in, we shall not get out for two hours, but must wind about according to its own eccentricities, sometimes between cliffs perpendicular and bare, at others less precipitous, and clothed with beautiful oak woods. Here comes in the road from Kânâ, and high up the face of this rampart on our left is a tomb cut in the rock. He who made it must have been like Edom, ambitious to place his nest as high as the eagle; and yet, saith the Lord, "I will bring thee down from thence." 1 And, long ages ago, his dust was scattered in this brawling brook, and swept away to the sea of Tyre. Here is an extraordinary growth of cactus, climbing the face of the cliff for many hundred feet, the only thing of the kind I have seen in Syria. We begin to hear the tinkling of our mule-bells, and now and then the song of the driver comes echoing down between these gigantic cliffs. And there is the sharp crack of Salîm's gun. They are evidently enjoying our romantic valley and this delicious air.

The partridge.

What bird is that whose call rings responsive from side to side?

The red-legged partridge, of which there are countless flocks in these hills and wadies of Naphtali. It is at them that Salîm is exercising his skill. Should he succeed we shall have the better dinner, for they are twice as large as our American quail, to which, in other respects, they bear a close resemblance. Hear how they cackle and call to one another directly above our heads. They are very wary, however, and often lead the vexed hunter over many a weary mile of rough mountains before he can get a shot at them.

The emeers and feudal chiefs of the country hunt them with the hawk, and keep up, with great pride, the ancient sport of falconry. The birds are generally brought from Persia and the cold mountains of Armenia, and do not thrive well in this climate. They are of two kinds, a large one for wood-cock and red-legged partridges, and a smaller for the quail.

The Beg at the castle of Tibnîn which we are now approaching, always keeps

Jer xlix. 16.

XVI.

tions. It did much mischief here on the hills of Naphtali, and over yon- oHAPTER der on the Jaulan several people perished by it, and many cattle. It was felt along the sea-board; and I myself caught a violent cold riding from Beirût to Sidon on that day. I examined into the accuracy of these facts on the ground, and know them to be true. My Hasbāny friend, who is a sort of travelling merchant, sold the shrouds of the victims, and saw nine of them buried the next morning. I have often felt the extreme power of these winds to cool down the vital heat of the body, but never encountered anything like "An horthis. It reminds one of David's horrible tempests.

This Ijon is a very fertile plain, and, when clothed with golden harvests, it must be charming. And here are the cascades you spoke of, I suppose?

rible tem

pest."

the Hûleh

Yes; and by a singular succession of them, the stream leaps down to the level of Abel, and is there joined by the Ruahîny, which you can see bursting out at the base of the western mountain. Those cliffs are covered for a long distance by the ruins of an extremely old town, for which I can get no other name than that of the fountain. The whole distance around and south of it is also called Ard er Ruahiny. Let us now incline to the north-east to visit the artificial caves and tombs called Serada, which are at the southern termination of that rock ridge of Khyam. I had another object in making this detour. You must know that the Hûleh is my pet lake-under my special protection. I am self-constituted cicerone, and jealous of her reputation. By right of office, I maintain that the Hûleh is unrivalled in beauty, Unrino matter when or from what point beheld. From the distant heights of valled Hermon, the hills of Naphtali, the plain of Ijon, or the groves of Banias, in beauty of mid-winter or mid-summer, in the evening or in the morning-Stop just where you are. There lies the Hûleh like a vast carpet, with patterns of every shade, and shape, and size, thrown down in Nature's most bewitching negligence, and laced all over with countless streams of liquid light. Those laughing brooks of the Hûleh, in straight lines drawn and parallel, or retreating behind clumps of nodding shrubbery, in graceful curves, to tie up love-knots in sport; here weaving silver tissue into cunning complications, there expanding into full-faced mirrors. The Arab tent is there, and the warhorse, with his wild rider. The plain is clothed with flocks, and herds of black buffalo bathe in the pools. The lake is alive with fowls, the trees with birds, and the air with bees. At all times fair, but fairest of all in early spring and at eventide, when golden sunlight, through many a mile of warm, ethereal amber, fades out into the fathomless blue of heaven. Such is the Hûleh: "Behold it is very good; a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth." 1

But here we are at the caves of Serada. They are now used to store away Caves of grain and tibn (chaff), and to shelter the herds of these miserable Arabs. Serada. Serada was once a large town, and inhabited by people who took a pride in

Judges xviii. 10

PART

11.

rock tombs for their dead. They were probably Phoenicians, for their sepulchres are exactly like those of Tyre and Sidon. Besides these, there is nothing to detain us, and we may pursue our journey. It is an hour from this to the Hasbany at El Ghŭjar, by a blind path over and among boulders of black lava. On this side of the river is the small Arab village Luisa, and below it are large Fountains fountains called Luisany, which add greatly to the size of the Hasbany. The channel of the river is one of the curiosities of this region. During the countless ages of the past, it has cut a tortuous canal through the hard lava at least two hundred feet deep, and in many places the distance from bank to bank is not much greater.

of Lui

sany.

The Has

bāny.

The sect
Nusairt-

eh.

This, then, is the most distant branch of the Jordan. It is really a respectable stream, even here, and the only one I ever saw in such a dark volcanic gorge; beautifully adorned, too, with oleanders, willows, and sycamores, and alive with fish. Altogether, I am not disappointed in it. Is it fact, or a mere fancy of mine, that these people of El Ghŭjar have a physiognomy quite peculiar, and so unlike the Arabs as to indicate a different origin?

They are Nusairîeh, and there are but two other villages of them in this part of the country. The great body of this tribe reside in the mountains above Tortosa, Mulkŭb, Jebile, and Ladakîyeh. There are many of them also in Antioch, and they spread around the north-east end of the Mediterranean toward Tarsus and Adana. It is impossible to ascertain their number, but they have more than a thousand villages and hamlets, and have been estimated as high as two hundred thousand. I have repeatedly travelled among them, and coincide in the general verdict rendered against them by those best acquainted with their character. They are the most ignorant, debased, and treacherous race in the country. Their religion is a profound secret, but is believed to be more infamous than even their external morals. The skill with which they evade any approximation toward a disclosure of their religious mysteries always excited my astonishment. My party and I once stopped to rest under the shadow of a great rock between Jebile and Ladakîyeh, and while quietly taking lunch, a company of these people came up. Their sheikh, learning from the muleteers that one of us was a doctor, made very earnest and respectful application for medicine. While the hakim was preparing it, I began with the old man, gradually and very cautiously approaching the Their reli- delicate subject of his religion. As the questions came more and more directly to the point, he grew restive, and fearing that he would decamp even without the coveted medicine, I cut right across to the matter in hand by asking him what sort of people inhabited the mountains above us.

gion a

Becret.

Oh! they are fellaheen.

I know that very well; but what is their religion? (This, you are already aware, is the first question in this country).

Religion! said he; what need have fellaheen of religion ?

Certainly, everybody has some sort of religion, and so have you, I am sure. What is it? Whom do you follow? What prophet do you love?