Governor, and a liberal disbursement of money to his attendants. The circumstance of there being other strangers ready to start for these places, brought the quota of contribution within our reach, and at the same time gave us courage to follow up our inclinations.

We went out by St. Stephen's gate, so called from its vicinity to the spot where the proto-martyr suffered (Acts vii. 58), and, crossing the valley of Kedron, we followed the path which winds round the edge of Mount Olivet, for about half an hour, when we arrived at the little village of Bethany, situated on its eastern brow.* We halted here a few minutes, to gratify the pious curiosity of those who wished to visit the supposed tomb of Lazarus, out of which he was raised to a second mortality by the enlivening voice of Christ, "Lazarus come forth." Celebrated as it became by this display of divine power, Bethany was more particularly distinguished, as being the spot to which our Lord retired of an evening with his disciples, after a laborious

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Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem about fifteen furlongs off." (St. John, xi. 18.) It is now called Lazarie.

+ "1 am the resurrection and the life." (St. John xi. 25.)

day's work in the city and in the temple. As such it is particularly interesting to the Christian traveller.

From hence we descended into a narrow valley, at the head of which is a copious spring of excellent water, called after the Apostles. It is walled round and covered in with a roof, as are most of the fountains of this country. Here we stopped a second time, to wait for the coming up of the stragglers, and to refresh ourselves at the very fountain, where probably our Saviour and his disciples often refreshed themselves, in their way to and from Jericho, which in those days was a considerable place, and the residence of a great number of priests and levites. At that time this road, leading from “Jerusalem over Jordan to Peræa", was much frequented for the purposes of traffic, and on account of the changes of the courses of the priests ministering to the temple. It is now entirely deserted. In the whole distance from Jerusalem to Jericho, we did not meet with a living creature; nor did we see anything that indicated the habitation of man, or the mark of his hand on the soil.*

"The highways lie waste, and the wayfaring man ceaseth.'' (Isa. xxxiii. 8, 9.)

From this place, for several hours, it winds through. a country of forbidding aspect. The hills are precipitous, and without verdure; the ravines are deep and abrupt, and desolation appears on every side. It is held to be the most dangerous route in Palestine, being, as of old, greatly infested with robbers.* It has been often observed, that a more appropriate place could not have been chosen, as the scene of the affecting and instructive parable of the benevolent Samaritan; though by some judicious commentators it is thought, that what is related, is not mere fiction, but real history. About three hours from the city, there are the ruins of a convent and Khan, erected upon the spot where the inn mentioned in the narrative is supposed to have stood. Here our guards prepared us for an attack, and as they rode forward to reconnoitre, every eye was on the alert, every ear upon the qui vive-but we passed on unmolested. Whether they really anticipated one, and that our numbers imposed upon our hidden enemies, or that they abused our credulity to enhance the merits of their services, I will not pretend

From the frequency of the murders committed on it. it was anciently called "the bloody way."

to say; but this I can affirm (and I have seen many scenes of desolation) that I never passed through a country more favourable for the attacks of banditti, and never have seen places better adapted for concealment, both before and after the deed, than those that presented themselves on this road.

In two hours from the ruins, the road terminates at the foot of a very high mountain, and then branches off abruptly into the plain of Jericho. This last mountain, according to tradition, is the one into which our Saviour suffered himself to be led by the Spirit, that he might show him all the kingdoms and glory of the world. It was in the recesses of this mountain also, that Christ performed the rigorous fast of forty days, whence its name amongst the moderns, Quarentania. It is as the evangelist describes it," an exceeding high mountain," and apparently of difficult ascent. Like those we had just passed under, it is calcareous, with scarcely any vegetation, and shattered as if the earth had suffered from some great convulsion. In its sides are several caves, excavated by the hermits of the middle ages, in which they kept their lent, in imitation of the fast of Jesus Christ. We did not attempt to visit

them, not daring to turn out of the road, and even there, we were not without our apprehensions of danger.

On quitting the mountains we descended by a steep and rugged path into the plain of Jericho. Here our attention was called to a fountain, said to be the one whose waters were sweetened by a miracle performed by the prophet Elisha. "The men of Jericho represented that though the situation of the town was pleasant, the water was naught (or bitter), and the ground barren ;" and he said, “Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein ;" and they brought it to him. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters and said, etc. etc. (See Kings ii. 11, 19, 21.) They are at present received into a stone basin, whence issuing in a copious stream, they divide themselves into several smaller ones, and after supplying some scanty patches of cultivation, are finally lost in the sandy plain.

In one hour from the spring, we reached Richa, a miserable village, standing on the site of the ancient Jericho, and consisting of twenty or thirty Arab huts, rudely constructed, and defended by a barrier of dried thorns. We alighted at an old square tower standing in a court surrounded by a wall, the dwel