word, that if a single Christian head should fall, he would bombard Acre, and set it on fire. Sir Sidney's interference is still remembered with heartfelt gratitude by all the Christians, who look upon him as their deliverer. "His word," says Burckhardt, "I have often heard both Turks and Christians exclaim, was like God's word— it never failed." *

The Christians of Nazareth enjoy great liberty. "I was told," says the last-mentioned traveller," that about thirty years ago, the padre guardiano of the convent was also sheikh, or chief-justice of the town, an office for which he paid a certain yearly sum to the Pasha of Acre. The police of the place was consequently in his hands; and when any disturbance happened, the reverend father used to take his stick, repair to the spot, and lay about him freely, no matter whether upon Turks or Christians." The guardian has still much influence in the town; and the fathers of the convent go a-shooting in their monastic habits, to several hours' distance from the town, without ever being insulted by the Turks. At the time of Burckhardt's visit, however, the personage of chief consequence at Nazareth, was M. Catafago, a native of Aleppo, but of Frank origin. He rented from the Pasha about twelve villages in the neighbourhood, for about 30007., and his profits were said to be considerable. He was a merchant, and meddled much in the politics and intrigues of the country, by which means he had become a person of great consequence.

ROUTE FROM NAZARETH TO SZALT.

FROM Nazareth there is a route, frequented by merchants, through Bisan, to Szalt, which was taken * Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, pp. 340, 341.

by Burckhardt. In two hours from Nazareth, he passed a small rivulet; in two hours and a half, the village Denouny, and near it, the ruins of Endor, where, he says, the witch's grotto is shewn. He crossed the Plain of Esdraelon, in a S.S.E. direction; and, leaving Mount Tabor to the left, in five hours and a half reached the village of Om-el-Taybe, belonging to the district of Djebel Nablous, or, as it is also called, Belled Harthe. At six hours and three quarters, he passed the village of Meraszrasz, upon the summit of a chain of hills on the side of Wady Oeshe, which falls into the Jordan; and then descending, in about seven hours and three quarters from Nazareth, reached the bottom of the Valley of El Ghor. Half an hour further, pursuing the valley southwards, brought him to Bisan. Here the chain of mountains bordering the valley, declines considerably in height, presenting merely elevated ground, quite open to the west; but at one hour's distance, towards the south, the mountains begin again. Crossing the valley in a S.S.E. direction, our traveller arrived at the banks of the Jordan, where it is fordable; it was then (July) about eighty paces broad, and about three feet deep. After passing the river, he continued his route close along the foot of the eastern mountain. In half an hour from the ford, he crossed Wady Mous; in one hour and a quarter, Wady Yabes; and in two hours came to a stony and hilly district, intersected by several deep but dry wadys, called Korn-elHemar, the ass's horn: it projects into the Ghor about four miles, and, when seen from the north, appears to close the valley. A fertile tract succeeds to this hilly ground, overgrown with bouttom, or wild pistachio-trees. At the end of six hours, the traveller passed to the right the ruins of Amata, on the

66

declivity of the mountain, whence a small rivulet descends into the plain. In six hours and a half he reached Mezar Abou Obeida. A quarter of an hour further is the northern branch of Nahr-el-Zerka, the principal stream being at the distance of one hour from Abou Obeida. The road then ascends the mountain by a steep acclivity: it is calcareous rock, with layers of various-coloured sand-stone and basalt. On the summit is a ruined site, which the Arabs called El Meysera. The road continues over an uneven tract, along the summit of the mountain ridge, which forms the northern limits of the district called El Belka. 'Here," says Burckhardt, "we were refreshed by cool winds, and every where found a grateful shade of fine oak, and wild pistachio-trees, with a scenery more like that of Europe than any I had yet seen in Syria." At the end of two hours from Meysera, he reached the foot of the mountain called Djebel Djelaad, or Djelaoud, the Gilead of the Scriptures, on which there is a ruined town of the same name. In three hours and a quarter, he passed near the top of Djebel Osha, which overlooks the whole of the Belka. The forest here grows thicker, consisting of oak, pistachio, balout, and keykab trees. In three hours and three quarters, he descended the southern side of the mountain near the tomb of Osha; and in three quarters of an hour more, reached Szalt. We have given this brief outline of the whole route from Nazareth, as it occurs in Burckhardt, but reserve a further description of the country east of the Jordan for another place.

MOUNT TABOR.

MOUNT TABOR, having been pitched upon as the scene of the Transfiguration, ranks among the sacred

places to which pilgrims repair from Nazareth. It is minutely described by both Pococke and Maundrell.

The road from Nazareth lies for two hours between low hills; it then opens into the Plain of Esdraelon. At about two or three furlongs within the plain, and six miles from Nazareth, rises this singular mount, which is almost entirely insulated, its figure representing a half-sphere.* "It is," says Pococke, one of the finest hills I ever beheld, being a rich soil that produces excellent herbage, and is most beautifully adorned with groves and clumps of trees. The ascent

66

is so easy, that we rode up the north side by a winding road. Some authors mention it as near four miles high, others as about two: the latter may be true, as to the winding ascent up the hill. The top of it, which is about half a mile long, and near a quarter of a mile broad, is encompassed with a wall, which Josephus built in forty days: there was also a wall along the middle of it, which divided the south part, on which the city stood, from the north part, which is lower, and is called the meidan, or place, being probably used for exercises when there was a city here, which Josephus mentions by the name of Ataburion. Within the outer wall on the north side, are several deep fosses, out of which, it is probable, the stones were dug to build the walls; and these fosses seem to have answered the end of cisterns, to preserve the `rain-water, and were also some defence to the city. There are likewise a great number of cisterns under ground, for preserving the rain-water. To the south, where the ascent was most easy, there are fosses cut on the outside, to render the access to the walls more

Mr. Jolliffe says, "that of a cone with the point struck off;" which more correctly describes its appearance.

difficult. Some of the gates also of the city remain : as Bab-el-houah, the gate of the winds, to the west; and Bab-el-kubbe, the arched gate, a small one to the south.* Antiochus, King of Syria, took the fortress on the top of this hill. Vespasian also got possession of it; and, after that, Josephus fortified it with strong walls. But what has made it more famous than any thing else, is the common opinion, from the time of St. Jerome, that the transfiguration of our Saviour was on this mountain. On the east part of the hill are the remains of a strong castle; and within the precinct of it is the grot, in which are three altars in memory of the three tabernacles which St. Peter proposed to build, and where the Latin fathers always celebrate on the day of the Transfiguration. It is said, there was a magnificent church built here by St. Helena, which was a cathedral when this town was made a bishop's see. There was formerly a convent of Benedictine monks here; and, on another part of the hill, a monastery of Basilians, where the Greeks have an altar, and perform their service on the festival of the Transfiguration. On the side of the hill, they shew a church in a grot, where they say Christ charged his disciples not to tell what things they had seen till he was glorified.” †

* Burckhardt, describing the spot, says: "A thick wall, constructed of large stones, may be traced quite round the summit, close to the edge of the precipice: on several parts of it are the remains of bastions. The area is overspread with the ruins of private dwellings, built of stone with great solidity."

"I cannot forbear to mention in this place an observation, which is very obvious to all that visit the Holy Land, viz. that almost all passages and histories related in the Gospel, are represented by them that undertake to shew where every thing was done, as having been done most of them in grottoes; and that even in such cases where the condition and the circumstances of