all that we saw near the water's edge. It is not true, as stated by some travellers, that no vegetation or living thing exists in the vicinity of the Dead Sea. We saw no tall and luxuriant forests, but an abundance of flowers and low stunted shrubbery. A flock of cranes flew over the sea while we were there, and birds of many kinds were chirping among the flowers.

Leaving the Dead Sea, we rode for three hours over a mountainous and desert country, to the Convent of Deir Mar Saba. This sacred retreat is singularly situated, half-way between the Dead Sea and the ancient city of Bethlehem. Nothing can be more dreary or lonely than Santa Saba. It is erected in a ravine, sunk to the depth of several hundred feet, where the brook Kedron has formed a channel which is dry the greater part of the year. The convent is on a slight eminence at the bottom of the dell; whence the buildings of the monastery rise by an almost perpendicular flight of steps and passages hewn out of the rock, ascending thus to the top of the hill, where they terminate in two square towers of great height. It is the largest and best conducted convent in the East, having as many as one hundred rooms, and every comfort that the weary pilgrim could desire. The chapel is large and well furnished. The skull room contains fourteen thousand skulls of persons who died or were killed in the convent; a curious sight, but unpleasant to look upon.

From Mar Saba we came to Bethlehem, (Beil Lahm,) the place of our Saviour's nativity. "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem." It is pleasantly situated on a high and terraced hill, surrounded by other hills covered with loose stones. The houses are mostly two stories high, built of stone, and have flat tops, upon which the citizens pass much of their time. The convent, which marks the place of the Redeemer's birth, was built by Helena, after removing the idolatrous structure said to have been erected by Adrian from a feeling of contempt or jealousy towards the Christians. At present it is divided among the monks of the Greek, Roman, and Armenian churches, to whom are assigned separate portions, as well for lodging as for places of worship, though, on certain days, they may all celebrate the rites of their common faith on altars which none of them have hitherto been allowed to appropriate exclusively. There are two churches, an upper and a

lower, under the same roof. The former is nothing remarkable, if we except a star inlaid in the floor immediately under the spot in the heavens where the supernatural sign became visible to the wise inen, and, like it, directly over the place of His nativity below. This last is an excavation in the rock, elegantly fitted up and floored with marble, and to which there is a descent of steps through a long and narrow passage. Here are shown a great number of tombs, and among them one in which are said to have been buried all the babes murdered by the barbarous Herod. From hence we were conducted into a handsome chapel, the floor and walls of which are composed of beautiful marble, having on each side five oratories, or recesses for prayer, corresponding to the ten stalls supposed to have been in the stable wherein the Saviour was born. This sacred place is irregular in form, because it occupies the site of the stable and the manger. It is thirty-seven feet six inches long, eleven feet three inches broad, and nine feet in height. As it receives no light from without, it is illumined by thirty-two lamps, sent as presents by different princes. At the further extremity of this small church, there is an altar placed in an arcade, and hollowed out below in the form of an arch, to embrace the sacred spot where Immanuel, having laid aside his glory, first appeared in the garb of human nature. A circle in the floor composed of marble and jasper, surrounded with silver, and having rays like those with which the sun is represented, is supposed to mark the very place wherein that stupendous event was realized. An inscription, denoting that "Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary," was once to be seen in these words: "Hic de Virgine Mariâ Jesus Christus natus est," but has recently been removed by the barbarous Greeks. Close to this altar is another denoting the manger in which the infant Messiah was laid. It is also made of marble, and bears a resemblance to the humble couch which alone the furniture of the stable could supply. Before it, is the altar of the Wise Men, a memorial of their adoration and praise at the moment when they saw the young child and Mary his mother. This convent is evidently of great antiquity, and, though frequently destroyed and as often renewed, it still retains its Grecian origin. Like most buildings dedicated to such purposes, it has the form of a cross, the nave being adorned with forty-eight columns of the Corinthian order in four rows, which are at least two

feet six inches in diameter. Just back of the convent a tomb is pointed out as that of the Virgin Mary, but as there is also one in Jerusalem, there is no way of determining their claims.

Before leaving Bethlehem, we visited several interesting places in the vicinity, such as the ruined tower of Simeon, who upon beholding the infant Messiah expressed his readiness to leave this world— the Monastery of Elias, now in possession of the Greeks, and the Tomb of Rachel, rising in a rounded top like the whitened sepulchre of an Arab Sheik.

LETTER FORTY-SIX.

HEBRON, Palestine.

Pools of Solomon-Aqueduct-Convent of St. John-Hebron-Sepulchre of PatriarchsQuarantine, etc.

THE Pools of Solomon are on the road between Bethlehem and Hebron, which, like all other roads in Syria, is exceedingly rugged and dangerous, being nothing more than a narrow path without any grades, filled with large loose stones. These large fountains originated, it is supposed, in a scheme for supplying Jerusalem with water. The reservoirs are three in number, and so arranged that the water of the highest may flow into the second, and the second into the third. Their shape is quadrangular; the breadth is the same in all, amounting to about ninety paces. In their length there is a slight difference: the first being one hundred and fifty paces long, the second two hundred, and the third two hundred and twenty. They are all built up with strong masonry, and plastered so as to render them tight. The springs whence the pools are supplied are very copious, and secured with great care, having no access to them but by a small hole leading into two large chambers neatly arched. The water is excellent, and conveyed as of old to Bethlehem and Jerusalem through an aqueduct formed of brick pipes, strengthened by the application of a peculiarly strong mortar.

Not far from these celebrated pools is the Convent of St. John's. It is situated in the desert, and built over the dwelling where the Baptist is supposed to have been born; and accordingly, under the

altar, the spot on which he was brought forth is marked by a star of marble, with the inscription, "Hic precursor Domini Christi natus est."

From appearances this convent was at one time very elegant, having a beautiful cupola, and a pavement of mosaic; but at present it looks dilapidated and deserted.

About dusk on the same day that we left Bethlehem we pitched our tents in the suburbs of Hebron, (Habrown,) or according to the Arabic orthography by the moderns, El Hhalil. It is removed from the usual track of tourists, and possesses very few objects of interest. Like nearly all the towns in Syria, it is situated on a hill, with narrow and dirty bazaars. The country in the vicinity looks blasted and barren, and the people cursed with poverty. The cave of Machpelah, which Abraham purchased from Ephron the son of Zohar for a burying-place, is now appropriated to the worship of Mohammed. No Christian can gain admission, even with a firman from the Porte, and we had to content ourselves with a description given us by our guide, who said that it was elegantly and beautifully decorated. The Quarantine establishment here is similar in structure and arrangement to the one at Gaza. We visited it with the expectation of meeting some of our friends who crossed the Desert by way of Petra, but were disappointed. A party of English gentlemen were there, who informed us that the difficulties between the Akaba and Petra tribes precluded them from visiting the city of Rocks. After riding many days on the back of a camel, they had the mortification to find out that John Bull was no better than other people in the estimation of the Bedouins of the Desert.

LETTER FORTY-SEVEN.

NAZARETH, Palestine. Return to Jerusalem-Beer-Village of Leban-Jacob's Well-Valley of Shechem-Nablous -Sebaste-Gennin-Mount Tor or Tabor-Sea of Galilee-Tiberias-Saphet-Naza

reth, etc.

FROM Hebron we returned to the Holy City, where we remained two days in order to give the dragoman time to lay in a stock of

provisions for our tour towards the north. The pious pilgrim might pass many months in Jerusalem agreeably and profitably; but the general traveller is more easily satisfied, and is willing to depart as soon as he has seen the different places of curiosity. Going out of the Damascus Gate, we passed by the Cave of Jeremiah, and Tombs of the Kings, to the summit of a lofty hill, where we turned our horses and gazed for the last time on the most remarkable city in the world. The dome of Omar's Mosque, the Tower of Hippicus, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre were the last objects to fade from our vision. We looked at them long and steadily, believing that it was the last time we would be permitted to enjoy a panorama embracing so many hallowed beauties.

After riding two hours and a quarter, we came to the ruins of an ancient town upon a low bank on the left. Three fine arches of large hewn stones, apparently of the early Jewish time, stand like a crown upon its top; and on the right of the road, for the road must have formerly passed through the town, are spacious semicircular terraces in the rocks, with broad steps at regular intervals leading up to them, and from one to the other. These ruins are called Atara. Two towns are spoken of in the book of Joshua, under the name of Ataroth; one as being on the borders of Ephraim and Benjamin, the other as Ataroth-adar, "near the hill that lieth on the south side of the nether Beth-horon," which answers well in position to this place.

Moving onward over a narrow path covered with loose stones, we came into the region of country famous for one of the greatest prodigies recorded in the Old Testament-when "The Lord discomfited the five kings of the Amorites before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah. Then spake Joshua to the Lord, in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies."

After a little more than four hours' ride from Jerusalem, we found our tents pitched at a copious fountain, near the village of Beer,