Amharic Version of the Sacred Scriptures, and encouraged him to expect happier days for his country, He mentioned that Priests alone get safely from Abyssinia to Jerusalem; but it is not till they have been beaten, and robbed of all that can be got out of them, by the Mahomedans on the coast of the Red Sea. He says there are several Abyssinians, as he was, kept as slaves, in private houses in Caïro. I invited him to visit me at Kamr Deir el Kamr: he said that the Emir would probably not permit him; but he is very kind to him. I promised to send him some Arabic Scriptures, for himself and the youths around him at school. "Do," he said: "you will be doing a great charity." I gave him my name on paper; that if ever he should visit Malta, he might find me. I described to him Abu Rumi and M. Asselin. He seemed to have some knowledge of Abu Rumi; and M. Asselin he had seen in the house of his Mahomedan master. He mentioned, what I never had heard before, that the Abyssinians, when they catch Mahomedans, some times compel them to become Christians. The converse is too well known to be the case.

RETURN TO DEIR EL KAMR.

Friday, Oct. 3, 1823-This morning Mr. Lewis returned to Beirout; while I determined to spend some days with this family at Deir el Kamr, and to read Arabic with the third son, Hanna, who had been preceptor to Mr. King.

In the afternoon, he called his mother into the room, and begged me to explain the object of the Missionaries in this country; which I did fully

dwelling especially on this, "that the Son of God had come to save man, and yet thousands as yet do not know Him." I find that the more simply this truth is told, the stronger the case appears to them -and the more strongly does it affect my own mind. This grand view throws all controversial matter to an infinite distance in the back-ground.

Sunday, Oct. 5-There are three marriages in the town to-day. They are to be performed in the evening: but, throughout the day, there has been a continual firing of musquets in token of rejoicing; and, in the court-yard and on the roof of the house of one of the parties, I can see from my window a constant throng of guests, who occasionally set up a joyous cry: yet this is not a rich family. An almost ruinous hospitality is sometimes kept up on these occasions.

My host's fourth son, a youth of seventeen years of age, loiters into my room, wondering how I can bear to be alone; supposing my head must ache, or that I shall certainly fall asleep unless he comes to talk with me. I desired him to sit down, and read aloud the Third Chapter to the Romans; and then I explained to him its contents, as well as I was able, in his native tongue.

In the evening I attended one of the marriages. Three Priests assisted in performing it. A multitude of men and boys set off with lights in their hands, an hour after sun-set, from the house of the bridegroom (leaving the bridegroom in his father's house) to that of the bride. After waiting nearly half-an-hour, the bride came out, attended by her female friends, and the procession began; the men going first, and after them the women with the bride

in their front. On their coming near the Church, they halted, while the bridegroom proceeded first into the Church with his father and companions (in number certainly more than thirty; see Judges xiv. 10, 11.) to be ready to receive his bride. After this, the bride and her party entered by the door and apartment belonging to the women. Both then stood together in the middle of the Church before a lighted desk, the bride being covered. An incessant noise and tumult, which no authority of the Priests could appease, prevailed throughout the ceremony, which lasted near half-an-hour. The whole being ended, the friend of the bridegroom, standing behind him, lifted him up in his hands like a child; shouting, at the same time, for joy. This practical joke, however, as well as the tumult, was ́a mark that the parties were of the lower rank. The bridegroom was only fifteen years of age.

Monday, Oct. 6,1823-We observed this day in special reference to the custom of general prayer for the more abundant influences of the Holy Spirit.

In the afternoon, three Jewish Females entered the house, to pay a visit to the mistress. They were strangers, but were politely treated with sherbet. I observed my preceptor, Hanna, watching them attentively: and, expressing my wish to call on the Jewish Families here, he would have dissuaded me. "In this place," said he, “the Jews are looked upon very badly." "And in what part of the world," I asked, " are they not so? Now, as we expect all men to love one another, we must expect Christians and Jews to do so: but which is to make the first move? which has the strongest obligation to love the other?-which is commanded

to do so?" He promptly and ingenuously answered, "Christians."

He informs me that there are about thirty Jewish Families in Deir el Kamr.

Wednesday, Oct. 8-This evening the season broke. Thunder and lightning and rain came from the west. The romantic valley of Deir el Kamr, and the high ranges of Lebanon, were clothed with mantles of thick mist; and the whole prospect became dreary and cheerless.

In the morning of this day-not an hour too soon -the master of the house had laid in a stock of earth; which was carried up, and spread evenly on the roof of the house, which is flat. The whole roof is thus formed of mere earth, laid on and rolled hard and flat: not, as in Malta, of a composition*, which is smooth and impenetrable, and thus receives the rain-water and carries it off into the tanks under the house. There is no want of flowing water in this mountainous country, as there is in Malta. On the top of every house is a large stone roller, for the purpose of hardening and flattening this layer of rude soil, so that the rain may not penetrate: but, upon this surface, as may be supposed, grass and weeds grow freely. It is to such grass that the Psalmist alludes, as useless and bad-Let them be as the grass upon the house-tops, which withereth afore it groweth up. (Ps. cxxix. 6.) In reference to the conclusion of that Psalm, I may add, that nothing could better express the contemptuous neglect which David there describes as falling on the wicked-Neither do they which go by

* In Beirout, and many other places, the flat roof consists of a hard cement, although not so good as that which is used in Malta.

say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord.

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This is, indeed, the land of good wishes and overflowing compliments. Every passer-by has his "Alla ybárakek"-" God bless you!" Conversation is sometimes among strangers made up of a very large proportion of these phrases: for example― "Good morning." Answer, May your day be enriched!"—" By seeing you." You have enlightened the house by your presence."-" Are you happy?" "Happy; and you also?"-" Happy." "You are comfortable, I am comfortable;" meaning, "I am comfortable, if you are." These sentences are often repeated; and, after any pause, it is usual to turn to your neighbour, and resume these courtesies many times. In Egypt, the Christian Salutation is "Salamât:' among Mahomedans, everywhere, it is "Salâm;" but this is not allowed among Christians. In the Southern half of Palestine, I subsequently found the ordinary salutation, between persons on the road, to be, "Owâfy;" literally, "Good luck :" to which the person saluted, replies, "Alla yafik," that is, "May God give you good luck!"

They have a remarkable way in this country of paying honour to the first-born son. Both the parents take their name from his. Thus the master of the house here is called Abu Michael, Father-ofMichael, because his eldest son was baptized by the name of Michael. The servant has a son named Suleymân; and her name consequently has become Om-Suleyman, i. e. Mother of Suleymân. The practice is universal in this country.

Thursday, Oct. 8, 1823-Stormy weather con