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and lectures, premillennial and others. And it is a fact not to be ignored, that many intelligent people, both in Europe and America, are now greatly interested in this subject, and in this country with direct reference to such a consummation. Things more strange. have happened in this land, and in the world at large, than that the Rothschilds, the Montefiores, and their compeers in colossal wealth, should purchase Palestine; and so far as the bankrupt government of the Sultan is concerned, the best use that could be made of this country would be to sell it. Now let us dismiss this subject, with the remark that although it is impossible to be in Palestine at the present day without having these and kindred topics thrust upon our attention, yet we need not dwell upon them, nor allow them to interfere with our special purposes.

We are continually meeting groups of donkeys, with baskets swinging on either side, and filled with the largest, brightest oranges I ever saw. They are to be sent by sea to foreign parts, I suppose, for there can be no local demand for such quantities of fruit.

No doubt; for this is but one of the many similar roads that converge from all parts of these gardens towards a common centre about the entrance into the city.

How extensive are the gardens?

The entire length, from north to south, is about seven miles, the average breadth one mile and a half, and the variety and quantity of fruit produced is quite surprising. Did you ever compare the list of modern fruits with those mentioned in the Bible?

I have never had the specific information necessary for such a comparison.

No better data can be found in the country than those furnished by these gardens of Jaffa, and we may make the comparison here and now. The result will probably disappoint you. Those mentioned by the sacred writers, such as olives and figs, dates and apples, pomegranates and grapes, are all here; while the fruits that are the life and glory of these gardens-the orange, the lemon, the apricot, the peach, the pear, the plum, the quince, and the banana -do not appear at all on the Biblical list. In like manner the number and variety of berries, of vegetables, of nuts, and of flowers known and valued in our times, far exceed those of the ancients.

MODERN AND BIBLICAL FRUITS.-GERMAN COLONY.

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How do you account for the great superiority of the modern? By the supposition that these fruits are not indigenous products of this country, but were brought into it from foreign lands, in connection with the Persian, Greek, and Roman empires, and, of course, after the canon even of the New Testament was closed. Many of the names in common use among the Arab peasants are neither

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ter the Hebrew isolation had given place to general intercourse with distant lands that the fruits and vegetables in question were introduced into this country.

What place is this which we are laboriously approaching through this shifting sand?

It is the German colony, and bears the appropriate name of Sarona. The situation is high, and ought to be healthy. The houses, erected in the midst of pleasant gardens, with ample space around them, and painted white, have a very home-like and inviting appearance.

It is surprising to find veritable Germans upon this plain of Sharon. Who are they, and under whose auspices have they been led to emigrate to this lonely spot?

The motive or impulse is a religious one, and the parent society, called The Temple, has its head-quarters in Germany, I believe at Stuttgard. Though I have had their published articles of faith. kindly sent me by Herr Hardegg, the head of a similar colony located at the foot of Carmel, near Haifa, I cannot easily give a summary of them. Their assumed title, The Temple, intimates the belief that they are to found some sort of a spiritual temple in the Holy Land. So far as I know, they are plain, honest, hard-working people. Amongst them are carpenters, masons, shoemakers, blacksmiths, and one or more representatives of nearly every other trade or profession in civilized life. The colony numbers, all told-men, women, and children-about two hundred souls. Herr Hoffman is the presiding elder of the little community; but I believe there are no recognized clergy amongst them, and no special importance is attached to the common ordinances of the Christian Church. The site occupied by that part of the colony near the city belonged originally to an American company, under the control of a Mr. Adams, which was mismanaged, and ended disastrously many years ago. But peace to Sarona and its kind-hearted people! It is full two hours' ride to er Râs, across the wide and fertile plain of Sharon, and we must push on.

As there are very few villages on this part of the plain, I suppose it must be unhealthy.

All along the river 'Aujeh, which you see below us on our left, malarial fevers are very common during the months of summer and autumn; and those who cultivate the land locate their homes at a distance-generally on the lower slopes of the mountains. You can see them dotting the foot-hills of Judæa far away to the south, and northward also, along the picturesque declivities of Samaria. That dilapidated castle coming into view on our left marks the site of er Râs, and to visit it we have come thus far out of our way. What is it, or was it, and for what distinguished?

The castle was called Mirabel by the Crusaders, and built, doubtless, to command the fountain and the road. Er Râs means the

RIVER 'AUJEH.-PAPYRUS.

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head, and the word is applied to capes, headlands, mountain-tops, etc. Here it indicates the fountain-head of the river 'Aujeh, which rises immediately below the castle.

Is the 'Aujeh mentioned in the Bible?

Not under that name. In Joshua xvii. 9, a river, Kanah, forms the dividing line between Ephraim and Manasseh-one tribe being on the south, the other on the north side of the river. The 'Aujeh enters the sea near Jaffa; and the territory of Ephraim, if it lay south of this river, must have included Jaffa itself, which seems to have belonged to Dan. There is nothing strange in the fact that the 'Aujeh is not mentioned in the Bible; for although one of the deepest and most formidable streams in the land, it is the shortest of them all. From the Râs to the sea is not more than ten miles; but it is almost the only river in the country that cannot be forded for many months in the year. I passed down on the other side of it, and found no place where it could be crossed until I reached the bridge not far from Sarona. The people at the bridge assured me that there was no ford except near the sea-shore; and so great is the depth even there, that my luggage had to be taken off the mules and carried over on the heads of the men.

As we come near I see it is a dark, sullen stream, creeping sluggishly through an impenetrable jungle of reeds and bushes. And here are great black buffaloes buried up to the eyes in its treacherous-looking depths.

You will find them in all such places. They are as fond of wallowing in the mire as are the wild hogs that also abound in this bottomless morass. But here we are at the ruined Castle of Mirabel; and this is the Râs el 'Aujeh which we have come to examine.

The two most remarkable features about it are the quiet outflow of such an immense fountain, and those curious reeds, with mop-like tops, that overshadow the deep marsh.

They well deserve attention, for they are the papyrus so famous in the ancient literary and economic history of Egypt and other countries.

Whether or not this is the true site of Antipatris can be more satisfactorily discussed this evening in our tent at Kefr Sâba. Let us now make a careful inspection of this spot and the immediate

surroundings, that we may be the better able to examine the respective claims of the two rivals for the honor of being the site of the historic and Biblical Antipatris. The question is complicated by contradictory evidence, and the decision depends mainly upon the mere physical characteristics of the two sites; hence the importance of our visit to this place. The essential conditions are three: That there should be satisfactory indications of a city as old as the age of Herod, at least;

That it should be on or near the Roman road from Jerusalem to Cæsarea;

That there should be an abundance of water—a river, in fact— at the site itself.

No place can be the Antipatris of Josephus that lacks either of these conditions. Let us now continue our ride to Kefr Sâba, and

inspect that locality also.

How far is it to Kefr Sâba?

I once came here direct from there in an hour and a quarter, but I rode fast, and the distance must be six miles.

Do you know anything about the Castle of Mirabel?

My guide, an old Moslem from Hableh, where I was encamped, told me that it was built by Abuna Barte-Father Barte—his way of pronouncing Bonaparte-and that it was destroyed by Abd Allah Pasha; both statements, of course, absurd. It may have been built by the Crusaders, but upon the foundations of an older castle-possibly the one to which the little army of "two hundred soldiers, and horsemen threescore and ten, and spearmen two hundred," brought the Apostle Paul. They probably arrived here early in the morning, for they left Jerusalem at nine o'clock the previous night, and must have marched all night, and in haste, lest they should be attacked by that band of more than forty fanatics, who had "bound themselves with an oath that they will neither eat nor drink until they have killed" Paul." The soldiers and spearmen returned to Jerusalem, and the horsemen continued their march to Cæsarea. along the road which we are now following, at least for several miles. It was then and still is the great highway through Central Palestine to Egypt.

1 Acts xxiii. 23.

2 Acts xxiii. 21.

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