assuring me, at the same time, that nothing in his power should be wanting to make my stay agreeable. I told him how sensible I felt of so much generosity, and said, what I really thought at the moment, that I knew of no suitable return which it would ever be in my power to make for it; when he replied, that, besides the satisfaction of doing good, in entertaining the stranger who is distant from his home, his country, and his friends, the curious facts which my knowledge of other people and of other lands had made me acquainted with, would always make my conversation interesting, and cause me to be as agreeable as I should be a welcome guest.

A

If I could have followed my own inclination, I would certainly have remained here for a few days at least; but I considered my duty to call me to fresh exertions, and determined therefore to return to Nazareth, to make new enquiries. When this determination was communicated to my host, he did all he could to combat it, and it was matter of so prolonged a dispute, that it was past midnight before our party broke up, when I retired to the excellent bed I had before slept in, and was attended by the hasnader or treasurer of the pilgrim chief in person.

As I could not with delicacy make any direct enquiries respecting Sanhoor, and as I had no

opportunity of seeing it but from without, excepting only the small portion which we passed through in our way from the gate to the house, I knew little more of it than its outline features. It is a walled town, seated on a hill, the ascent of which is steep on all sides; and it commands the view of a fine broad valley or plain to the northward, and of a narrower one to the southward of it, both of which are cultivated. The walls of Sanhoor are strongly built, and are apparently of old Saracenic work. There are two gates of entrance, in opposite quarters of the town; but the whole circuit of the walls is less than half a mile. The houses within are thickly placed, and well built; the streets are narrow; the population is abundant for the size of the place, and the whole of the inhabitants are Mohammedans. Hadjee Ahmed Jerar, the chief, is tributary to Damascus, but is still an absolute lord within his own domain, as there are no military or other agents of the superior government ever stationed throughout his territory. His establishment is quite a feodal one, and he has several other towns and villages, besides extensive lands around them, attached to his service and governed by his will. But notwithstanding that his power is absolute, his moderate use of it renders his government mild; and his dependants seemingly all rejoiced in the superi

ority of their privileges and their happiness, Every thing that I saw myself within the benign influence of this man's paternal government, wore an appearance of industry, security, abundance, health, and satisfaction; and furnished the most striking contrast that could be witnessed to the aspect of Turkish and Arabian settlements in general.

18th. As our way was thought to be only a short day's journey to Nazareth, we were not suffered to depart without taking an early meal, which Hadjee Ahmed had ordered to be prepared on the preceding evening, and of which he himself partook with us.

On setting out, he said he could hardly wish that I should be driven from Nazareth back to Sanhoor again, in search of a caravan for Damascus, as he hoped, for my sake, that I should find one direct from thence; but he made me promise, if ever I should again come into Syria or Palestine, either on my return from India, or at any subsequent period, that I would come and stay within his castle for a month at least.

Leaving Sanhoor at eight o'clock, we passed for half an hour over a small, but well-cultivated plain, to the northward of the town. From the northern edge of this we went for about an hour and a half over stony ground, when we reached Cabaat. This village, which we had before

passed after it was dark, on our way hither from Jeneen, contains from fifty to eighty dwellings, and is altogether peopled by Mohammedans.

To go by what our guide thought a shorter route, we kept to the westward, leaving Jeneen on our right; and in about two hours more, over uneven and generally barren ground, we came to the village of Birreheen. This is seated on the brow of a hill, and contains from forty to fifty dwellings; and just opposite to it, on the west, distant about a mile, is another village of the same size, called Cufr-Cudt.

Below this, we turned to the north-east, through a narrow pass, in which a deep well was sunk down in the rock at the foot of an overhanging cliff. Pursuing our way from hence, we came out at noon upon the Great Plain of Esdraelon, having Jeneen in sight about two miles to the eastward of us.

Going nearly in a northern direction over the plain, we came at two o'clock to Makheably, passing close to its western edge, where we observed the scattered fragments of buildings, pottery, sarcophagi, and other proofs of former consequence.

The rest of our way back was precisely that by which we had come from Nazareth. In the course of it we observed, that what is called the Great Plain of Esdraelon, taking the hills we

had quitted to be its southern boundary, and the range on which Nazareth stands to be its northern limit, is not strictly a plain, in the sense in which we generally understand the word, but consists of a series of elevations and depressions, some of which are very considerable. It is in contrast to the more rugged parts of the hill-country only that it can be called so, or from the circumstance of those ridges in it not interrupting the general surface of corn-land to which it is mostly appropriated, since all the elevated parts are cultivable even to their summits.

The Hermon of this place, as compared with Tabor, is a small range of hills standing nearly in the middle of the Great Plain, and isolated on all sides round. But this is not the principal Hermon of the Scriptures, as invoked in the writings of Solomon and David, as will be shown in its proper place, though this range here opposite to Tabor is always pointed out by the guardians of the holy places as the only mountain so called.

The length of the Great Plain of Esdraelon, within the limits prescribed to it on the east and west by geographers and travellers, is estimated at about eight hours' journey, or at least thirty miles. Its breadth from north to south, in the way we came over it, is about five hours travel,