and just below his feet the picturesque town of Nazareth, rich in gardens and flowers, and fruitful fields and plenteous orchards.

There is in Nazareth a good field for Christian work, and there are one or two places which will perhaps be visited with pleasure. The Protestant Church is a handsome building, standing in a very commanding position; it is capable of holding about 500 people, and the clergyman is a man full of benevolence, and has won his way to the hearts of many of the people. He labours under the arrangements of the Church Missionary Society, and the statistics about three years ago were as follows: there were, including the out-stations, 450 native Christians, 66 communicants, and 260 school children.

The Girls' Orphanage in Nazareth, established by the Society for Promoting Female Education in the East, is in a flourishing state under the able management of Miss Julie Rose, a lady who, with great self-denial, has devoted her life to this good work.

The handsome new building lately erected is due to her untiring energy, and if every traveller would withhold a little undeserved back sheesh, and give it to this deserving institution, he would be helping on a good cause.

FROM NAZARETH TO TIBERIAS.

[There are two routes: I, by Mount Tabor; and, 2, by Kefr Kenna. The latter is more direct, and the former is only recommended if the ascent of Tabor has not been made on the way to Nazareth, or as a separate excursion from Nazareth (p. 278).]

I. By Mount Tabor.

Passing the Fountain of the Virgin, and turning to the

right the path descends, and the traveller passes through a wilderness of stunted oaks and shrubs, which reach almost to the base of Tabor. To the right will be seen the village of Debûrieh, the ancient Daberath (uncertain), a town of Zebulun (Joshua xix. 11), or of Issachar (xxi. 28). It was allotted to the Gershonite Levites ( Chron. vi. 72). The ruins here consist of the bare walls of a church, and foundations of some structure of a much earlier date.

The ascent of Tabor is by no means difficult, the path winding in easy zig-zags to the summit.

Mount Tabor stood on the frontier of Zebulun and Naphtali. Among Greek and Roman writers it was called Itabyrion, and Atabyrion, its modern name is Jebel-et-Tûr. It is a beautiful hill, somewhat in the shape of a sugar-loaf, flattened at the top; it stands alone on the plain, except where a narrow, and in some places imperceptible, ridge unites it to the hills of Galilee; its height from the plain is about 1350 feet, and from the sea level over 2000 feet. It is a graceful and beautiful object from any, and every point of view, and presents various striking contrasts, when seen in different aspects. On the southern side, for example, it is rough and rugged, with nothing but barren limestone visible; northward it is covered with thick foliage, oak, terebinth, and syringa ornamenting it from base to summit; elsewhere it presents the appearance of a series of well-planted terraces. It should be seen under various lights, and from different points of view. The history of Mount Tabor may be briefly summarised. It was here that Deborah commanded Barak to gather his army, "and Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak" (Judges iv. 14, 15).

Tabor is referred to in the wars of Gideon (Judges viii.

18, 19), and in the Psalms and elsewhere it is mentioned in poetical and figurative allusions. "The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in Thy name" (Psalm lxxxix. 12). The Prophet Jeremiah, when telling how Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, should come and smite the land of Egypt, utters these words: "As I live, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall He come (Jer. xlvi. 18), see also Hosea V. I. The mountain is not referred to by name in the New Testament; but a tradition was universally believed for many centuries, that this was none other than the Holy Mount, the scene of our Lord's Transfiguration. Authority for this tradition was given by Origen and St. Jerome, but the acuteness of the literary criticism of modern days has demonstrated the impossibility of this being the site. Immediately before the Transfiguration our Saviour was far away from Tabor, at Cesarea Philippi, and after coming down from the mountain He departed thence, and passed through Galilee in order to get to Jerusalem (see Mark viii. 27, ix. 2, 14, 30, x. 1). But the most conclusive argument against this being the scene of the Transfiguration is, that it is selected only because it is a "high mountain apart," and many such may be found in Galilee, and during the lifetime of our Lord the top of Tabor was, without doubt, occupied by a strongly fortified town, the defences of which were rebuilt by Josephus.

The true site of the Holy Mount may be looked for with greater probability on one of the slopes of Hermon (p. 324). As, however, Tabor was the most conspicuous of the Galilean hills, it was only natural that pilgrims should have regarded it as the Holy Mount, and, towards the end of the sixth century, erect here three churches—“ one for

Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias."
Crusaders built a church and a monastery.

Here also the

"If one might choose a place," says a recent writer, speaking of the Transfiguration, "which he would deem peculiarly fitting for so sublime a transaction, there is none certainly which would so entirely satisfy our feelings in this respect as the lofty, majestic, beautiful Tabor."

The summit of the mountain is a broad plateau, covered with ruins of the buildings of all ages; there are the thick bevelled stones of a wall, very ancient; and there are the remains of towers, houses, cisterns, and vaults, probably belonging to the age of the Crusaders. Operations are now being carried on with a view to the erection of a church here. For a long time Greeks and Latins have utilized the vaults; the former having converted one vault into a chapel, with a residence for a priest; and the latter having an altar in another vault, where mass is celebrated every year by priests from Nazareth. The view from the summit is vaster than that from Nazareth (p. 284), but nothing like so full of interesting details, although it includes glimpses of the Sea of Galilee, and the blue chain of the Hauran, and the curious undulations of the Galilean country.

Hermon is seen from here in as great perfection as from Nazareth, and the Plain of Esdraelon in even greater perfection; but as the Mediterranean is shut out almost entirely from the panorama, as well as many spots of historical interest, the palm must be given to the Wely at Nazareth (p. 284).

The journey from Tabor to Tiberias occupies about six hours, or it may be done in less, as in one part of the route there is a fine level tract, where a good canter may be enjoyed.

Tabor must be descended by the same path as that by

which the ascent is made, and then we turn into a charming valley on the right.

At Khan-el-Tuggâr, or Caravansary of the Merchants -so named from the market or fair which is held here every Monday, and presents a curious, motley scene there are ruins of some old fortresses and cisterns. The village of Kefr Sabt is an Algerian colony. Passing into a broad valley we soon fall into the route described on (p. 290).

II. By Kefr Kenna.

Although the scenery by this route is not, in some respects, so interesting as that by way of Mount Tabor, it has the advantage of being much shorter. The first village passed is Reineh, without any historical associations (as far as is known), and nothing to attract attention save an old sarcophagus, richly ornamented, which stands by the roadside, and is used as the common water-trough of the village. A little further on may be seen, on the top of a hill, the village of Meshhad, supposed to correspond with Gath-hepher, a town on the border of Zebulun, and the birthplace of the Prophet "Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-hepher" (2 Kings xiv. 25). Tradition locates the tomb of Jonah here, and his shrine is the Wely on the hill.

Kefr Kenna, an insignificant village with about 500 inhabitants, was for centuries considered to be the Cana of Galilee where Christ performed his first miracle, at the Marriage Feast (John ii. 1); where He healed the nobleman's son, who lay sick at Capernaum (iv. 46–54); and where Nathaniel," the disciple in whom there was no guile,” was born (xxi. 2). One or two have raised objections to this being the site, amongst whom are Drs. Robinson and Porter, and have placed it at Kâna-el-Jelil near Sepphoris, about nine miles north of Nazareth. It is by no means a