against the Bedouin. There is no pretence All travellers must

would make a formidable fort for defence A stone stairway leads to the upper floor. of accommodation beyond the bare walls. bring their own provision and forage. As the place had, apparently, never been cleaned out, it was in a very objectionable condition. Near by is one of the typical wells of the country, such as are shown in the accompanying cut.

Overlooking the Lake of Tiberias, at an elevation of 3,500 feet, is the ancient city of Safed. The lovely lake, with its engirdling Galilean hills, and the fertile Haraun beyond the Jordan, lies like a map far beneath the eye. Safed is still one

of the sacred cities of the Jews. In 1837 this whole region, from Beyrout to Tyre and Tiberias, was shaken by an earthquake, the ravages of which can still be seen in shattered vaults and yawning walls. In one village church the entire congregation of 135 were crushed by the ruins. At Safed the destruction was most terrible, from the fact that the houses were in steep terraces street above street. Of its population of nine thousand, more than half perished miserably. Dr. Thompson gives a heartrending account of this disaster, and of the often futile efforts to relieve its victims. Some lingered for days before help could reach them, or death end their misery. The Moslems acted in the most heartless manner, plundering and robbing the dying and the dead, even while the earth shook and trembled.

The fortifications of Safed are still strong, though shattered by earthquake. They are supposed to have been built by the Crusaders and garrison of the Knights Templars. It is a high

and breezy sanitorium, a delightful relief from the deep, hot valley beneath.

In the neighbourhood of Safed, which was the seat of an important Jewish sacerdotal colony, that of Hillel and his thirty-six

disciples, and of an older Phoenician idol shrine, are a number of ancient synagogues and temples. Some of these synagogues are in a state of remarkably good preservation, and exhibit much architectural beauty. Of one the doorway alone remains, of which we give a cut. It is ten feet high and five feet broad. On either side of the rosette on the lintel were figures possibly intended for the paschal lamb. On the lintel is the Hebrew inscription, "Peace be unto this dwelling-place." It recalls vividly the words of Christ to the disciples, "Into whatsoever house ye enter say, Peace be to this house."

After lunch we rode on from Kahn Jubb Yusef through a picturesque region, but one of utter desolation. Beneath the eye lay broad green meadows, through which winds the sinuous Jordan. Of this region Dr. Porter writes:

"On reaching the brow of the long ascent, where the lake lies far below us, with the green valleys radiating from it, and the rich plateaux spreading out from the top of its high banks, we cannot refrain from sitting down to gaze upon that vast panorama. A mournful and solitary silence reigns over it. Nature has lavished on it some of her choicest gifts; but man has deserted it. In the whole valley of the Jordan, from the Lake Huleh to the Sea of Galilee, there is not a single settled inhabitant. Along the whole eastern bank of the river and the lakes, from the base of Hermon to the ravine of Hieromax-a region of great fertility, thirty miles long by seven or eight wide-there are only some three inhabited villages! The western bank is almost as desolate. Ruins are numerous enough. Every mile or two is an old site of town or village, now well-nigh hid beneath a dense jungle of thorns and thistles. The words of Scripture here recur to us with peculiar force-'I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation. . And I will bring the land into desolation and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her Sabbaths.'"

:

We now approach Lake Huleh, or the "Waters of Merom" of Scripture. We cross the ancient three-arched bridge, named "the Bridge of Jacob's Daughters," probably from an erroneous tradition that here the patriarch crossed the river and met his brother Esau.

Century after century," says Dr. Manning, "invading armies, or caravans of peaceful traders, have passed to and fro along this route; but none of them have left results so deep and lasting as when, eighteen hundred years ago, Saul of Tarsus, breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord journeyed to Da

mascus,' little thinking, as he crossed this bridge, that he should return to preach the faith he now sought to destroy."

The Lake of Huleh is a small and shallow sheet of water, about four and a half miles long and three miles wide, bordered by a dense growth of canes and papyrus reeds, from which the material and name of paper came. These are nowhere found in Egypt, though once so common as to furnish much of the material of which the mummy-cases were made. Here they grow so densely that the Arabs declare it is impossible for even the wild boar to penetrate them. The Judge with his characteristic energy in securing canes, cut a number of papyrus stalks, but so frail were they that they did but illustrate the Scripture, "thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed .. whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it." Our standing joke concerning the Judge was, that "the Canaanite was still in the land."

In the late afternoon, Madame, who was an indefatigable climber, and the writer scaled a lofty hill commanding a splendid view of the lake, and watched the long shadows creep over the broad and verdurous plain. On this historic field was waged the last and greatest battle between Joshua and the tribal Canaanitish chiefs. Here Jabon, King of Hazor, rallied the Jebusite chiefs from the forts of Jerusalem, the Hittite and the Amorite, in the far south, to "the Hivite under Hermon," in the north, and in this neighbourhood Hazor. his capital, must have existed.*

*"And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the seashore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many. And when all these kings were met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel." (Josh. xi. 4-5).

In the broad meadow at our feet at Ain-Belat, were pitched the tents of several tourist camps, making quite a numerous party. And very pretty they looked with their snowy walls and fluttering flags and long lines of stamping steeds. This camp-neighbourhood gave us an opportunity to exchange visits and compare notes with fellow-tourists from many different parts of Christendom.

Early next morning we were up and off for our ride to Banias, or Cæsarea-Philippi. This fertile plain, though without fixed habitation, was dotted with the reed huts of the Arabs, of which I counted over two hundred, made from the papyrus plant. These Arabs are less nomadic and more agricultural than the Bedouins of the desert, and remain long enough in one place to reap the crop which they have sown. I counted in one view two hundred black, hairless buffalo wallowing in the marshes or feeding in the meadows, and there were many thousands more in the distance. A couple of peasants were engaged in making rope from the bark of rushes to bind the

roofs of their reed huts. Wild fowl abound in the marshes and wild game in the wadys of the neighbouring hills. Here we saw wild mustard growing so high that the birds lodged in the branches of it.

In this wide and fertile valley were many Jewish agricultural colonies aided by such philanthropists as Sir Joseph Montefiore and Sir Samuel de Rothschild, and there were some attempts at a road; indeed we met a waggon-load of Jews, among them a remarkably pretty Jewess carrying an enormous bouquet of flowers, with whom we exchanged a cordial greeting. We