we rode over the hill near Bâkah the view southwards was boundless. In all that ride of five hours we did not pass a single village. Arabs and Kurds have possession of the entire region, and hence the numerous robberies along that route; but as we had the chief of the robbers and two mounted police of the government for a guard, we were not molested. Bâkah is a considerable village, where the district governor resides, and we had abundant opportunity to see the notabilities of the neighborhood. Around it are orchards of olive, fig, pomegranate, and other trees, and in the valley below are immense fields of onions. The only well is at least half a mile from the village, and women and girls, in merry groups, were passing to and from it all the day long, with tall black jars perched upon their heads. They were well clothed; and I noticed one, who appeared to be a Sit, surrounded by her maidens. She wore a scarletcolored silk gŭmbâz over her other garments, with a profusion of native jewellery about her head-dress, but her feet were bare. She carried her jar like the rest, but somewhat coquettishly, at a slight angle, while her walk was proud and stately. It was evening, the time "when the daughters of the men of the city came out to draw water;"" and I was pleasantly reminded of Rebekah and Eliezer of Damascus, Abraham's faithful steward, at the well near the city of Nahor, for many camels were kneeling around the troughs at the well. The women carry all the water, while the men lounge about, smoke, sip coffee, play with the mankalie or at the dama, with which games they are strangely fascinated. Some of the women. were spinning thick strands of goat's hair, with which coarse sacks, bags, carpets, and tent-covers are woven. They use no spindle, but merely fasten the strands to a stone, which they twirl round until sufficiently twisted, when it is wound upon a ball, and the process is repeated over and over, in the most primitive manner possible. The men do the ploughing, for you never see a woman guiding the plough; but they follow after and drop in the seed-simsum, cotton, or "white corn"-in the furrow. They also assist in reaping, and drive the mowraj round the summer threshing-floor.

The rest of the day was quite broken up by horsemen coming and going in urgent haste, owing to reported raids of Bedawîn from 1 Gen. xxiv. 13.

VILLAGES ON THE HILLS OF SAMARIA.

81

the plain of Esdraelon. The alarm, however, seemed to be groundless; and, after a quiet night, we started early for Samaria. The surrounding country is very fertile and thickly inhabited. From the top of a high tell I counted thirteen villages, and was told that there were many others hidden away in the retreating valleys. As none of them suggest Biblical sites, it would be useless to mention their hard-sounding names. Turning into the mountains east of Bâkah, we followed a long rocky glen through vast olive-orchards, past a place called ed Deîr, up a very steep ascent, and then down on the other side to 'Ain Ibta, a well-built town in wady Shaîr. This wady drains the region north, south, and east of Sebŭstieh, and passes across the plain to the sea, where it is called Abu Zabûrah. On this point the testimony of the natives was unanimous, but nothing except accurate surveys will determine the true course of the numerous streams that descend from the eastern mountains to the sea. We followed wady Shaîr all the way from 'Ain Ibta to Sebŭstieh, and the villages on the hill-sides are numerous and picturesque. The entire ride was over ground new to me, and therefore extremely interesting. The underlying rock is a white cretaceous limestone, with soft and hard strata interchanging in many places with surprising regularity. The soil in the valleys is surpassingly fat and fertile. I saw oxen passing through a field where nothing but their heads appeared above the waving wheat; and I myself rode along a path, the wheat higher on either side than the back of my horse. It is indeed “ It is indeed "a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil-olive, and honey.”1

The places of most interest north of the route to Sebŭstieh are Um el Fahm, a large and wealthy Moslem village north-east of Bâkah, Kefr Kûd, the Capercotia of the ancient geographers, 'Arrabeh, the turbulent seat of the 'Abd el Hady family, the great rivals of the Beit Jerâr of Sânûr for the government of this region. They and their partisans are almost always at war, and the villages are divided into hostile factions, ever ready for conflict and bloodshed. Tell Dothân, where Joseph was cast into a pit, and subsequently 1 Deut. viii. 7, 8.

sold to Ishmaelite merchants, is nearly east of 'Arrabeh; and the ever-rebellious Sânûr is on the regular road from Sebŭstieh to Jenîn, a little north of Jeba'. I supposed that we were following the track of the ancient highway from Cæsarea to Samaria and Nâblus, but we saw no traces of such a road until 'Ain Ibta, nor was there any pavement visible between that village and Sebŭstieh. This entire region has been rarely visited by travellers, and was but little known until quite recently. And now let me remind you that our horses have, in the meantime, carried us over the border of Phoenicia into the territory of the Philistines.

According to the Biblical account, the Philistines came originally out of Egypt.'

Leaving that much-disputed question for the future, I will only remark that, as we traverse their country, we shall see that even the present inhabitants approach more and more closely to the Egyptian type in physiognomy, in costume, language, manners, and customs. Dr. Kitto has a long and labored article to prove that they were the Shepherd Kings expelled from Egypt. Others more competent must decide whether or not he makes good his hypothesis, but the mere supposition adds fresh interest to this people and to the country which they occupied.

What are these high mounds ahead of us that overhang the sea?

They are called Tellûl Abu Zabûrah, and are one hour from Cæsarea. The sea has worn them half away, but on the top of this first one are some large columns which must have formed part of a temple, or possibly of a mausoleum. The spot is still used as a burying-ground by Arab tribes in this region. It commands a noble view of the sea westwards, and of Strabo's "ingens sylva” in the interior. Much of this wilderness is covered by shifting sand, which has overflowed the country, and whose presence is easily explained. The rock of the shore is a friable sandstone, constantly washed to pieces by the waves, and the loose sand is driven inland. by the west winds. This holds good along the entire coast wherever sand encumbers the plain, but here it is unusually abundant and troublesome. We shall have high hills of it on our left, and 1 Deut. ii. 23; Amos ix. 7.

this soft beach to wade through for two full hours yet; therefore, put on the garment of patience, and plod steadily onwards.

There is always something to amuse and instruct in this country. Look at those dark clouds, which hang like sackcloth over the sea along the western horizon. From them, on windy days, are formed water

spouts.

I have already noticed several inci

pient spouts,length

ening downwards

from their lower edge.

These remarkable phenomena occur most frequently in spring, but I have also seen them in autumn. They are not accompanied with much rain, and between the dark stratum above and the sea the sky is clear and bright. Here and there fragments of black vapor, shaped like

WATER-SPOUT.

long funnels, are drawn down from the clouds towards the sea, and are seen to be in violent agitation, whirling round on themselves as they are driven along by the wind. Directly beneath them the surface of the sea is also in commotion by a whirlwind, which travels onwards in concert with the spout above. I have often seen the two actually unite in mid-air and rush towards the mountains, writhing and twisting and bending like a huge serpent, its head in the clouds and its tail on the deep.

They make a loud noise, and appear very frightful. "Deep

calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me," saith the Psalmist, when his soul was cast down within him.' But, though formidable in appearance, they do very little injury. I have heard of only one instance in which they proved destructive, even to boats, though the sailors are afraid of them. As soon as they approach the shore they dissolve and disappear.

That kind of water-spout which bursts on the mountains, generally in the dry months of summer, does immense mischief.

In

a few minutes the wadies along its track are swollen into furious rivers, which sweep away grain, olives, raisins, and every other pro

proper element to try their glossy wings in the air. They are generally supposed to do this to escape some ravenous fish that is pursuing them, but they often start up in shoals before native boats. Their flight is always short and spasmodic, and when their web-wings become dry they instantly collapse, and the poor little aeronauts drop into the water like stones. I have had them fall into my boat when attempting to fly over it.

Not a house, not

How melancholy is this utter desolation! a trace of inhabitants, not even shepherds, to relieve the dull monotony. Was it thus when Peter came from Joppa to Cæsarea?

1 Psa. xlii. 7.