ROMAN ROADS.-ABU ZABÛRAH.

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The coast itself was, doubtless, what it is now; but the road could not have been so utterly deserted. Cæsarea was then a great capital and commercial emporium; and this now solitary track was crowded with multitudes hastening to that centre of business, pleasure, and ambition.

Did Paul travel this route to and from Jerusalem?

I suppose not. The Roman road, even to Joppa, probably passed inland from Cæsarea, and united with the great highway which continued along the plain southwards. From Antipatris a branch road led off to the south-east, through the mountains, to Jerusalem. Paul was brought down that way by the Roman soldiers, and it was the direct route which he would pursue unless turned aside by some special call.

Here we come to what is called Minât Zabûr, or Harbor of Abu Zabûrah; and around this small inlet was once a village of some size, as is indicated by the quantity of broken pottery scattered over the surface. This is an infallible sign of an ancient site. If there ever were any but mud hovels here, however, every stone has been carried away, or has dissolved to sand and dust. The river Abu Zabûrah enters the sea a short distance ahead of us; but, as this has been a remarkably dry season, we can, doubtless, cross on the beach, though once, when I passed this way in 1833, I had to make a long detour into the interior over these sand-hills, and finally got across with difficulty. It is celebrated for quicksands and bottomless mud; and it was partly to avoid such impracticable rivers that the Romans carried their highways down the interior, for it was their system never to make a road where they could not construct a bridge.

We must allow our horses to drink at the ford, for it is a long stretch to the next brook. Here is a shepherd with his flock; and Hammûd exclaimed, when he saw him, "El hamdu lillah shûfna ensân" — Praise be to God! we have seen a man. He may be thankful also that the Bedawy is one and that we are many.

These cliffs, below which we have been trailing our slow and weary march since crossing Abu Zabûrah, are very singular geological specimens; absolutely perpendicular, composed of very thin strata; not horizontal, but crumpled, twisted, and bulging out in

all possible angles and shapes, like dog-eared pasteboard in a bookbindery.

Yes, and the same extraordinary formation continues almost to Jaffa. The cliffs are called Derb el Kheît, probably because they stretch in a straight line for so many miles. But our horses are becoming exhausted with this deep sand; let us therefore turn into the country, and pass over these sand-hills to Mukhâlid, forty-five minutes to the south-east of us. There has been a fight there this week between the villagers and the Bedawîn, as I was told at the mills last night; but we are a strong party, and they will not venture to molest us. There we shall find water, take our lunch, and refresh our weary horses.

What sort of birds are these which make such a noise amongst the trees and bushes?

They are field-sparrows, and this is one of the largest congregations of them I have seen. The trees and even the bushes are stuffed full of their nests; and these hawks that are soaring about cause all this alarm and hubbub amongst the sparrows. I saw something like this on the Hûleh, only the birds are ten times more numerous here; in fact, they seem to be without number. They live upon the wild oats which cover these sand-hills as if sown by the hand of man. I once found an immense colony of sparrows settled in the bushes along the northern margin of the plain of Gennesaret. The gregarious instinct which leads them to unite and build their nests at breeding-time in such populous communities is shared by other birds. The crows or rooks select the vast canebrakes north of lake Hûleh. The beautiful wŭrwâr-bee-eaterburrows in great numbers in the soft earth-banks at the ancient site of Tarichæa, near the outgo of the Jordan from the lake of Tiberias; and many other kinds of birds exhibit the same instincts.

These nests are so numerous and so low that one might easily gather a peck of their tiny eggs, and unfledged younglings, with mother-hen and all, could they be of any use.

Ay; but by such wanton robbery you would violate both the letter and the spirit of the Mosaic law.

To what precept do you refer?

You doubtless remember that God commanded his servant

DIVINE LAW PROTECTING BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

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Moses to protect them, and others like them, with the shield of his divine law. "If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: but thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days." Notice now the comprehensive specifications of this precept, by which you are forbidden to molest these nests. Though not on the ground, they are in the trees. You must in nowise take the dam, and you do not want either the eggs or the young, so all must be left. Notice also the weighty sanction appended to the precept-prosperity and long life to the obedient, with the contrary calamities clearly implied upon the transgressor.

Michaelis thinks that this precept was designed mainly to protect from extinction noxious and mischievous birds, but it is plainly indicated that they were such as persons might desire to use. In its spirit the law includes all birds, and no doubt this, like many other prohibitory commands, was intended to cultivate sentiments of humanity and habits of gentleness and compassion. There is something revolting and barbarous in the destruction of both mother and young, and those who do so wantonly will acquire cruel and savage dispositions, fitting them for the commission of any kind. of atrocity. It will not be well with such robbers, nor will they prolong their days upon the earth.

Now we have gained the summit, see what a splendid prospect opens upon the eye. The great plain of Sharon stretches southwards quite beyond the range of vision, while the mountains of Manasseh and Ephraim, on the east, crowded with villages, picturesquely perched upon their many-shaped declivities, bound the horizon in that direction. Below us, to the south-east, is Mukhâlid, and most welcome to man and beast, for we have been riding five hours through deep sand, and are quite fatigued.

On the evening of the 5th of April, 1833, I arrived at this village from Tantûra, and slept under this identical old sycamore, which the west wind has forced to spread its branches down the

1 Deut. xxii. 6, 7.

hill to the east. How little of the romance of that first journey through Palestine can I now get up, with all the appliances and luxuries of modern travel! Without tent, canteen, or even cook, sleeping under trees, hedges, or rocks, as it happened, I passed from Beirût to the Dead Sea, and back through the interior by Nâblus, Nazareth, and Tiberias. But there was more romance than common-sense in the matter, and before that first summer was over I lay on my bed for many weeks, consumed by that low, nervous, Dead Sea fever which has proved fatal to so many Syrian travellers. Mukhâlid is famous for watermelons beyond almost any village in Palestine, and vast quantities are taken by boat to Beirût, and other towns along the coast.

Are these melons the abattachim of Egypt, the remembrance of which augmented the murmurs of the Israelites in the wilderness?1

In all probability the same. The Arabic name is only a variation of the Hebrew, and nothing could be more regretted in the burning desert than these delicious melons, whose exuberant juice is so refreshing to the thirsty pilgrim. It is among the extraordinary eccentricities of the vegetable kingdom that these melons, so large and so full of water, should flourish best on such soil as this around Mukhâlid. Into this dry sand the vine thrusts its short root, and that in the hottest season of the year; yet a thousand boat-loads of this most juicy melon are gathered from these sandfields for the market every summer. The leaves themselves must have the power of absorbing moisture from the heavy dews of the night. The villagers are telling our people that, for fear of the Bedawîn, they have not dared to plant their more distant fields this spring, and therefore there will be few of their melons in the city markets, which bit of information has stirred the wrath of the muleteers, and they are heaping maledictions upon those robbers-upon their heads, their eyes, their beards, and everything else pertaining to them. And really one feels a sort of sympathy with them, for I am conscious of an intense dislike of these Bedawîn, nor have I any patience with them. Our lunch is over, and we must ride steadily and fast, for it is yet several hours to el Haram, where we are to find the tents pitched for the night.

1 Numb. xi. 5.

CISTERNS FOR GRAIN.-ANTS AND BEES.

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Look well before your horse's head, or you may fall into one of these open-mouthed cisterns by the road-side.

I see; but what are they for? Not to hold water, certainly, for there is no way in which they could be filled.

They are wells or cisterns for grain. In them the farmers store their crops after the grain is threshed and winnowed. These cisterns are cool, perfectly dry, and tight. The top is hermetically sealed with plaster, and covered with a deep bed of earth, and thus they keep out rats, mice, and even ants-the latter by no means a contemptible enemy.

I read lately, in a work of some pretension, that ants do not carry away wheat or barley. This was by way of comment on the word of the wise man, that the ant "gathereth her food in the harvest." What have you to say of the criticism?

That it is nonsense. Tell it to these farmers, and they will laugh in your face. Ants not pilfer from the floor and the granary! They are the greatest robbers in the land. Leave a bushel of wheat in the vicinity of one of their subterranean cities, and in a surprisingly short time the whole commonwealth will be summoned to plunder. A broad black column stretches from the wheat to their hole, and you are startled by the result. As if by magic, every grain seems to be accommodated with legs, and walks off in a hurry along the moving column. The farmers remorselessly set fire to every ant city they find in the neighborhood of their threshing-floors. Solomon does not say that the ants lay up store for winter, but that they gather their food in the harvest," which they most diligently do, as any one may see who will take the trouble to look. Immediately following this praise of the ant the Seventy make Solomon ascribe similar wisdom and diligence to the bee. Two verses are added to the Hebrew text, which are thus translated: "Or go to the bee, and learn how industrious she is, and what a magnificent work she produces, whose labors kings and common people use for their health, and she is desired and praised by all. And though weak in strength, yet, prizing wisdom, she prevails." The doctrine is good, even though the text is not found in the Hebrew, and the ancients often quote the passage.

1 Prov. vi. 8.

2 Prov. vi. 6-8.