ling of the chief of the district. It is vulgarly called the house of Zaccheus the publican, who dwelt at Jericho. The portion of the building assigned to us for the night was the upper story of the tower, the ascent to which was by a broken stone staircase, The roof also had fallen in, and was replaced by some boughs of trees. Here, after satisfying our appetites by a hasty meal, we lay ourselves down to rest upon some matting which was furnished us in lieu of bedding.

Although, on any other occasion, the fatigue incident upon a long day's journey, would have disposed us to sleep, even on this hard couch, at the present juncture we felt little inclination to indulge in its allurements. Mine was troubled, and of short duration. At the end of a few hours I awoke, and, finding my companions still asleep, I arose, and leaning over the parapet wall of the tower, I sought converse and company in the many associations which crowded upon my mind, connected with the place. As may be conceived, they were of the most interesting kind; and being heightened by the actual presence of many of the objects themselves, they left impressions and recollections which no time can efface.

A vast expanse of still water opens to the south. It is the Dead Sea, otherwise called the Lake Asphaltites. To the east lies a chain of mountains, whose rugged outline, distinctly marked out by the moon rising in their rear, reveals the summits of Nebo, Peor, and Pisgah. At their dark bases flows a considerable stream, coming from the north, and bendIt is the river ing its silent course towards the sea. Jordan. To the west, the view is bounded by a mountainous range, of lesser altitude than that running parallel with it, to the east. Those are the Judæan hills, through which I passed in the morning, in my way down to Jericho. The canopy of heaven, at this moment, appears to be lit up with more than usual brilliancy, and the twinkling and falling of the stars, offers a strange contrast to the gloom, which hangs over every object seen on the nether earth. The lake to the south brings back to my remembrance, the once fruitful vale of Siddim, in whose bosom stood many great and populous towns, to wit:-Sodom, Gomorrah, Admar, Zeboiim and Zoar; now all lying engulphed beneath its waters, and enveloped, as it were, in the winding-sheet of death. These shores once trod by

Abraham and Lot, and whereon they received the visits of angels, are now only resorted to by the wild Arab of the Desert, and even he has a superstitious dread of the place. The eastern hills remind me of the wanderings of the Israelites, the altars of Barak, the prophecies of Balaam, and the death of Moses. From the top of Mount Nebo, on their return from Egypt, the Israelites first beheld the "land of promise," and there, their illustrious chief breathed his last. That land, they did, in fact, become possessed of; but, because of their subsequent transgressions, they were again dispossessed of it, and their descendants are to this day wanderers over the face of the wide world. The Jordan tells me of the dividing of its waters by Joshua, Elijah, and Elisha, the passage of the Israelites, the baptism of Christ, and the preaching of St. John. At no great distance from the present village stood the ancient city of Jericho, where was a school of the prophets, and where Elijah and Elisha performed many miracles. Here Zaccheus entertained our Lord, and here Bartimeus was restored to sight. In this plain, the patriarchs often pitched their tents, and many sanguinary battles were fought. On some occasions,

the God of Armies made a signal display of his divine power in favour of his chosen people, but particularly when the walls of Jericho fell down at the voices of the mnltitude, and at the sound of the trumpets of the priests. On others, as at the siege of Ai, in punishment of the sins of Achan, he allowed them to be smitten by their enemies. But it was not to the plain alone, or to its immediate neighbourhood, as already referred to, that these manifestations of omnipotence were confined. As I gaze upon the expanse above, I think of the translation of Elijah to heaven in a chariot of fire; and look to where the heavens opened, and the Spirit of God descended like a dove, and lighting upon Jesus, a voice from heaven was heard, saying "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

Never can I forget this memorable night, and never can scenes which suggested reflections of such unprecedented interest be entirely obliterated from my memory.

Jericho, Aug. 17.-At an early hour this morning, accompanied by the escort we had brought from Jerusalem, now increased by a guard of horsemen, which the governor of this place had provided us

with, we impatiently set out for the Dead Sea. Thither we arrived in about two hours, and near the place where it receives the waters of the Jordan. On our way to it, and long before we had reached its shores, all appearance of vegetation had ceased, and the surface of the plain, was whitened all around with a saline crust, brought out by the action of the sun after rain, from a soil evidently impregnated with this mineral.* For some distance away from its present margin may be seen a sort of high-water mark, probably produced by the backwater at the period of the "swellings of the Jordan." The space intervening is furrowed as it were by the waves, and strewed with drifted wood, whitened by the sun.-The sea is open on the north to the plain of Jericho. On this side, its shores are flat, and a kind of bay is formed extending about five or six miles across. A double line of rugged mountains, of the same appearance as those bordering on the bed of the Nile, but of greater altitude (those on the Arabian side are the highest), enclose its waters on

To this circumstance Moses alludes in Deut. xxix. 23. "The whole land thereof is brimstone and salt.''