dirty, narrow, and winding. The houses are built promiscuously, and although looking picturesque from a distance. command no admiration from a nearer view. Donkeys and camels may be met with in the streets, but not vehicles The population has been variously estimated from 8000 up to 16,000. There are about a thousand Christians, a few Jews, and the rest are Mahomedans.

There are three convents at Jaffa-the Greek Convent, near the landing-place, the Latin Convent (the house of Simon the Tanner), and the Armenian Convent, where the sufferers by the plague were poisoned by order of Napoleon.

The Bazaar is insiguificant, and would not be worth the trouble of visiting, but that it presents a very animated scene, and is frequented by a curious crowd of all nations. Near ihe Bazaar is a Gateway and a Fountain, at which many women congregate to gossip and draw water. The money-changers, and the large vegetables and fruit, especially oranges, will attract attention.

Tee city was, until recently, surrounded by a high wall, but it was taken down by order of the Turkish Covernment, and the stones sold for building purposes. Several merchants have bought pieces of the wall, and have commenced building houses and shops in the outskirts of the town.

There are three Mosques in Jaffa, but none of them present any remarkable features.

The most interesting thing in Jaffa for the sight-seer is the Orange Groves. They are extensive, easily accessible, and the fruit is exqusite; on some of the trees hunddreds of ripe luscious oranges may be seen, oval in shape, and some measuring from ten to fifteen inches in circumference. The traveller must by no means omit to visit here; the

aroma in the evening and early morning is delicious, and every sweet scent should be courted in Palestine. Other fruits-lemons, pomegranates, water-melons, etc.-also comto great perfection here. For miles round the scene is one of luxuriant beauty. These orchards, or gardens, are pretected by rows of the prickly cactus, forming an impenetrable hedge. There are, in the vicinity, over 300 of these gardens, varying in size from three or four acres to ten or twelve acres; about a hundred of the gardens have two wells each, the remainder only one well each. Oranges are sometimes sold in the streets of Jaffa at the rate of eight or ten a penny, and about 8,000,000 are produced annually in the neighbourhood.

As nearly every traveller in Palestine is interested in the work of Christian education in the East, a visit to Miss Arnott's School may well be included among the things to be done in Jaffa, more especially if the day be Sunday. This school is not under the auspices of the Society for Promoting Female Education in the East, but is the result of Miss Arnott's individual exertions; assisted by various societies and private individuals. Not being under the patronage of any society it has a special claim upon the passing traveller, and every one who pays a visit will be well rewarded for his pains. There is nothing in the East which excites the wonder and arouses the indignation of the Western traveller more than the degradation to which the women are subjected and the lamentable ignorance in which they live, and it is to grapple with this evil, amongst others, that the school has been established.

In March, 1863, Miss Arnott gathered fourteen little girls around her; in the summer of the same year the numbers increased to fifty; in 1869, she commenced to take in boarders in order to train them as teachers. Her efforts

have been so successful, that a piece of land has been purchased on which a large, substantial house has been erected, suitable for the requirements of her work. Already there are from fifty to sixty pupils in the day-school, about sixty persons assemble every Sunday for Protestant worship, and there are thirteen boarders in training as teachers. £10 per annum is the cost of maintaining and thoroughly educating a girl in the house.

Just outside Jaffa, to the north, or left of the gate, is a miserable Mahomedan cemetery, and beyond this, close to the Jerusalem Hotel, is the German Colony. A colony was founded here, in the first instance (1866), by some Americans, but their scheme was unsuccessful, and when the Quaker City visited Jaffa it took away the bulk of the colonists to Egypt, from whence they were assisted back again to America; a party of Germans then took possession of the spot and continue there to this day. They number about forty families, and although, with the many unfavourable circumstances around them, they make slow progress, it is a fact that they make progress. The tourist who is interested in the question of what Palestine is capable of becoming (see p. 118) will do well to visit this colony, and extend his journey to Sarona, a little to the north.

JAFFA TO JERUSALEM.

(Distance 40 miles. A 12 hours' ride.)

It is usual to break the journey at Ramleh, where, if the traveller is not provided with tent and dragoman, he can stay at the Convent (p. 76); the road is perfectly safe.

The journey may be made on horseback, by carriage, or, by the infirm, in a palanquin.

There are two routes. (1) From Jaffa to Ramleh direct

-time 3 hours.

to Ramleh-time 4

(2) From Jaffa to Ludd (Lydda) and

hours.

Both roads are good in dry weather, but in the rainy season the one to Lydda is very muddy, while the direct road to Ramleh is good at all times.

Leaving Jaffa, for half an hour the road is through orange, lemon, pomegranate, and other fruit gardens; on the left is a Fountain with several large sycamore trees in front and a few cypress trees behind (this is pointed out by some dragomans, who seek to make capital out of everything, as the Tomb of Dorcas, or, if it be preferred, the spot where she was raised to life). Emerging from the gardens, the Plain of Sharon is entered; it extends from Jaffa to Cæsarea, and from the central hills to the Mediterranean, and is the northern extremity of the Sephela. It was celebrated for its fertility and its suitableness for pasturage (1 Chron. xxvii. 29, xxxiii. 9; Isa. xlv. 10), and now it produces grass and flowers in profusion, and is capable of much better cultivation.

It is interesting to remember that this has been the great thoroughfare to Jerusalem in all ages. The materials for the Temple were all carried along this road; Prophets and Apostles have ridden across this flowery plain, and the feet of myriad Crusaders have trodden it. It has been sung in the poetry of sorrow and of joy. The voice of despair has cried, "The earth mourneth and languisheth; Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down; Sharon is like a wilderness (Isa. xxxiii. 9); but the voice of hope has been heard saying, "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad; the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God" (Isa. xxxv. 1, 2).

The Rose of Sharon (Song of Sol. ii. 1) is supposed by many to be a species of mallow; others contend that it

is the narcissus, meadow saffron, anemone, lily, asphodel, "Saviour's blood drop," etc., all of which are found here in abundance. Warburton says the plain "is sprinkled with the iris, wild tulip, and almost every flower except its own peculiar rose." Thomson says he has seen thousands of Solomon's roses on Sharon," but he regards the rose as a species of mallow.

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The greatest profusion of flowers is seen in April or May, in autumn the whole plain is like a wilderness.

Soon after entering the plain a small village will be seen on the right, owned by a society called the Jewish Agricultural School; the president, Mr. Charles Netter, is a Frenchman. In less than half an hour from this spot Yazur, an old village, is passed (perhaps the site of some Hazor; Hazorshual, to wit, Joshua xix. 3). Near this village is a Wely which some dragomans point out as Abraham's Fountain. Here the road to Lydda branches off to the left (p. 78). Proceeding on the direct road, fields and low hills are passed, and in about twenty minutes Beit-Dejân is seen on the left hand (p. 78). It was doubtless one of the many Beth Dagon's, i.e., House of Dagon, the deity of the Philistines (Joshua xv. 41). Half an hour before reaching Ramleh the modern village of Surafend will be seen on the right hand surrounded by cactus hedges (cactus opuntia); and on the left the olive trees surrounding Lydda.

RAMLEH

[There is a small Hotel here where from 10 to 12 persons can be accommodated. At the Latin Monastery the accommodation is good, and every attention is paid to travellers. Ramleh is usually only a halting-place, for luncheon and rest, on the way to Jerusalem.]