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horns, decked with jewels, and so long that a servant had to spread the veil over them. But the day for these most preposterous appendages to the female head is about over. After the wars between the Maronites and Druses in 1841 and 1845, the Maronite clergy thundered their excommunications against them, and very few Christians now wear them. Many even of the Druse ladies have cast them off, and the probability is that in a few years travelers will seek in vain for a horned lady.

I do not suppose that horns like these were worn by the Jews, nor, indeed, by any nation of antiquity. So remarkable an article of dress, had it been in existence, would certainly have been noticed by authors who enter so minutely into such matters as many did. The horn in animals, where the Creator alone planted them, were their weapons of defense; and man, who lays all nature under tribute to enrich his store of images and figures, very early made it synonymous with power, and then for what that will always confer upon the possessor. To exalt the horn-an expression often occurring in the poetic and prophetic parts of the Biblemeans to advance in power, honor, and dominion. To defile it in the dust is a figure drawn from the condition of a dying ox or stag, who literally defiles his horn in dust, mingled with his own blood. It is painfully significant of defeat, disgrace, and death, and for a prince like Job it was to be dishonored and utterly overthrown.1

It is not certainly known why the corners of altars were finished off with horns. Several ideas may have been combined in this custom. These horns may have been intended to symbolize the majesty and power of the being in whose honor the altar was reared, and to whom the sacrifice was offered; or the hint may have been suggested by the horns of the victims to be slain. As altars early became sanctuaries, it was natural that the suppliant should lay hold of the horns. In fact, there was often nothing else about them which he could grasp with his hand. This natural, significant, and very expressive act is often mentioned in the Bible.

1 Job xvi. 15.

ROMAN ROAD-ARAB TENTS.

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VII. LADY HESTER STANHOPE.

WE have now another long, low cape, called Nukkar Jedrah, even more rocky than es S'adîat.

Are these parallel lines of rough rock, some sixteen feet apart, the curb-stones of Rome's far-famed roads?

They are; and they do not give a favorable idea of these ancient highways. But they were probably covered over with some sort of composition, not unlike the crushed rock of our modern macadamized roads. I have seen specimens of this in good preservation.

One of my fair friends in America charged me to bring her some memento from the grave of Lady Hester Stanhope. Is not her ladyship's last resting-place somewhere in this neighborhood?

On a mountain-top, about three hours to the southeast of us; and, as there is nothing of interest along the regular road, we can visit it, if you have no objections to a smart scramble over these hills.

Lead on. No path can be more abominable than this slippery pavement.

We must first provide for lunch. No experienced traveler in this country will forget the commissary department. I must also direct Salîm to go on to the bridge over the Owely, and there prepare dinner. We shall be ready for it about three o'clock. Now take that path up the steep face of the mountain on the left, and you will have enough to do to manage yourself and your horse, without the trouble of conversation.

Well, this is rough enough, certainly, and desolate too—fit only for goats and their keepers. I see Arab tents, how

ever.

Yes; and there are villages also, hidden away in the wadies, with vineyards, and olive-orchards, and fields for corn, which produce no mean crop.

What bird is this which abounds so much on these mountains?

It is the English pewit, or lapwing, called by the natives

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Now and Bu-Teet, and I know not what besides. The first name is derived from the fact that the bird appears here only in the depth of winter-now being a cold winterstorm. I have seen them coming down the coast in large flocks on the wings of the wild north wind. They then disperse over these mountains, and remain until early spring, when they entirely disappear. They roost on the ground wherever night overtakes them. I have frequently started them up from under the very feet of my frightened horse when riding in the dark, especially along the spurs of old Hermon, and in Wady et Teim, between the two Lebanons. They utter a loud scream when about to fly, which sounds like a prolonged teet, and hence the name Bu-Teetfather of teet. It is the dûkephath of Moses, translated lapwing in our version, and I think correctly, notwithstanding what some recent writers advance against it. It was classed by Moses among the unclean birds, and is so regarded now by Arabs, who refuse to eat it. The upper parts of the body and wings are of a dull slate-color, the under parts of both are white. It has a top-knot on the hinder part of the head, pointing backward like a horn; and when running about on the ground, it closely resembles a young hare.

HED-HOOD, OR HOOPOE.

The crown, or top-knot, never expands, like that of the hed-hood or hoopoe. This latter bird is also found in the country, and the Arabic translation of dûkephath is hed-hood, and many modern critics have adopted this opinion, but erroneously, as I think. The hed-hood is a small bird, good to eat, comparatively rare, and therefore not likely to have been

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mentioned at all by Moses, and still less to have been classed with the unclean. The Bu-teet is large and striking, and appears in countless numbers. There is, however, a resemblance between them, especially in the remarkable tuft on the head. The whole subject of Biblical ornithology, however, is obscure, and the prohibitions of Moses would now, in many cases, be of no practical avail in reference to birds. unclean, since we can not tell to what ones he refers. But a truce to birds. Follow me down this winding track into the gorge below, and be careful.

On you be the responsibility. I have no longer any criterion by which to judge whether a path is safe or otherwise; and as to these little horses, one might ride them up stairs to bed, I presume, without hesitation, at least on their part. But, in all seriousness, these mountain roads are positively barbarous. I hope you will be able to extract some pleasing and profitable instruction out of them, or my patience will be again upset very soon.

Nothing easier. A whole class of Biblical figures rests on this state of things. Isaiah says, Prepare the way of the Lord; cast up, cast up the high way; gather out the stones;1 and not only do modern ways prove the need of such preparation, but modern customs show how, when, and why it is done. When Ibrahim Pasha proposed to visit certain places

1 Isa. lxii. 10.

on Lebanon, the emeers and sheikhs sent forth a general proclamation, somewhat in the style of Isaiah's exhortation, to all the inhabitants, to assemble along the proposed route, and prepare the way before him. The same was done in 1845, on a grand scale, when the present sultan visited Brusa. The stones were gathered out, crooked places straightened, and rough ones made level and smooth. I had the benefit of their labor a few days after his majesty's visit. From customs like these comes the exhortation of John the Baptist, Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make his paths straight; or, as it is more fully developed by the prophet, Make straight in the desert a high way for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. The exhortation to gather out the stones is peculiarly appropriate. These farmers do the exact reverse-gather up the stones from their fields, and cast them into the highway, and it is this barbarous custom which in many places renders the paths so uncomfortable, and even dangerous.

2

I have been all the morning in exquisite sympathy with Job, David, Jeremiah, and other prophets and poets who complain of narrow paths. Ours has frequently been not more than a foot wide, of hard, smooth rock, and with a profound gorge yawning beneath.

3

You will encounter many such in our rambles along the highways and byways of the land. A dozen "slippery places" have impressed their ugly features upon my imagination. Jeremiah says that the ways of both prophet and priest who were profane should be as slippery ways in the darkness. This is the danger vastly aggravated, according to my experience. During the rebellion of Jerusalem in 1834, I attempted to reach the city from Lydd by ascending the mountains along secret paths in a night intensely dark. A fog also settled down upon us, and added to the gloom. My guides lost the way, and, after wandering and slipping about in the utmost danger for several hours, we 2 Isa. xl. 3, 4. 3 Jer. xxiii. 12.

1 ' Matt. iii. 3.

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