mostly in ruins, but look as though once they were handsome edifices; the tower or castle is still standing. We are sitting by the Pool, a little way east of the village, into which runs the water from a fine spring, west of us. All around this Pool is a dense grove of olives. The Pool is one hundred by one hundred and twenty feet, and is no doubt the scene of that singular duel between the men of Joab and Abner, described in 2 Samuel, 2d chapter.

At Gibeon, Solomon had that vision which left him the wisest of The Tabernacle was here for many years, under David and Solomon, though the Ark itself was at Jerusalem.

men.

We have named our resting-place to-night, Camp Judas Maccabæus, for here we may

'Sing his heroic deeds and hapless fall
By doom of battle."

There is no hero of romance I admire so much as this Judas, whose very name, a Hammer, exemplifies the man. In this vicinity his greatest exploits were done. His father died B. c. 166, and was buried at Modin, near Latron, where we shall pitch our tents to-morrow night. He named Judas, his third son, to be his successor. This indomitable warrior defeated Apollonius and Seron at Beth-horon, four miles west of this, and then Lysias and Emmaus (now called Ammas) ten miles south of Lydda. B. C. 161 he defeated and slew the great Nicanor at Beth-horon, and was himself shortly afterwards slain at Adassa, thirty stadia from this place. It was here he said to his troops, "It is better for us to die in battle than to behold the calamities of our people and our sanctuary" (1 Maccabees iii. 59).

CHAPTER V.

DOWN THE TURNPIKE, WESTWARD. THE FIFTH DAY.

THREE MILES WEST OF JERUSALEM, 8 A. M.

THE road from the Pool of Gibeon to this place was, unexpectedly, bad. The country, too, has changed suddenly into an arid, solitary, and desert range of hills, strangely contrasted with the charming place of our encampment last night.

A host of pilgrims is filling the road that connects Joppa with Jerusalem, as we come into it here. One young Frenchman, dressed from head to foot in ruby-colored velvet, with brilliant feathers in a Tyrolese hat, attracts every eye. The most of these pilgrims, however, are ragged, and look forlorn, hungry and foot-sore, as they well may be. I imagine Paul went always in this way on foot, living, probably, as they do, on bread, vegetables, and milk-a wandering pedestrian. And yet he was not like them in anything else. I like what Renan says of his style: "It was so original, so peculiarly his own, that any addition would stand out upon the ground of the text by its very lack of color." I have just read the opening of Paul's letter to the Ephesians while waiting for this motley and noisy crowd to pass, and it was this that suggested the comparison.

One of the pilgrims, a Greek, after giving me its designation, asked who we were? I told him Chlamydates, and he went off puzzled. If he had known a very little more Greek he would have got the definition from Chlamys, a traveler's cloak, and understood that I simply meant travelers.

From a boy I have read the history of the Maccabees as I read Robinson Crusoe, and Ruth and the Life of Washington. Over my bed-head, at home, are the portraits of Washington, Abd-elKader, Garibaldi and Judus Maccabæus. How well I recall the "rising" of Mattathias, the father of the five boys, as recorded in 1 Maccabees ii.; and his "Woe is me! wherefore was I born!" and how the family "rent their clothes and put on sackcloth and mourned very sore;" and how, at his home in Modin (now Latroon,

where we shall camp to-night), he slew the King's commissioner and pulled down the altar he had built, and how then they "fled into the mountains (B.C. 168) and left all that ever they had;" and how, when "the time had drawn near that Mattathias should die" (B. C. 166), he exhorted his five sons "to be valiant, and show themselves men, and obtain glory." Well did the sons obey that father, even to the death. Simon, after a life of usefulness, was assassinated, as Lincoln was. Jonathan, after a noble career, was also murdered B.C. 144. Eleazar was killed in battle by an elephant, in an unsuccessful attempt to slay King Antiochus Eupator. Joannan-Cadis was treacherously slain by "the children of Jambri." Judas, the greatest of the five, and the one selected by his father to be his successor, first defeated Apollonius, and slew him in battle. Then he defeated Seron. Next, he gained two victories over Lysias, B.C. 166. In B.C. 163, he defeated Lysias the third time. In B.C. 161, he defeated and slew Nicanor, and secured the independence of his nation. Then he himself experienced the versatility of fortune, for he was killed in battle the same year at Eleasa. Of him it was said, as of Judah, the son of Jacob: "In his acts he was like a lion, and like a lion's whelp roaring for his prey." (1 Maccabees iii. 4.) When he recovered Jerusalem from the hands of the heathen, he found the sanctuary desolate and the altar profaned, and the gates burnt up, and shrubs growing in the courts as in the forest, or in one of the mountains. "Yea, and the priests' chambers pulled down." 1 Mac-cabees iv. 38.

As we come around into the Joppa turnpike, three miles west of Jerusalem, the hills present the appearance of barren bleakness and ruggedness. Here we meet a great company of pilgrims of all nations, tongues and peoples, passing, with their faces eastward. Among them, the swarthy, turbulent Arab, the sensual fair-skinned Turk, the barbarous, ebony-skinned African, and the Christian of every hue and dye. Here is the down-trodden Israelite, "stranger in a strange land," and welcomed nowhere. The first caravan of Christian pilgrims consisted of Paul and the deputies of the Church of Cenchrea, who brought contributions to the faithful of the poor Christians at Jerusalem. (Acts xxi. 15.) This, indeed, was the first voyage of a band of pious, Christian converts, ever made to the cradle of Christian faith.

Although this country is literally torn to pieces by religious feuds, and its civilization delayed for centuries, by the hatreds, jealousies

and acrimony of Greek and Latin Christians, Sephardim and Askenazim Jews, of Maronite and Druse, of orthodox and heretical Mohammedan; yet, as the centre of pilgrimage, Jew, Christian and Mohammedan unite in making it their holy land.

Among the crowd, I remarked with most interest the monk, with his coarse brown cloth hood and cassock, his rope-girdle tied in curious, elegant symbolical knots, and his well-dusted sandals, the true type of those swarms of priests who came hither in the earlier days of Christendom. One of these monks, from the south of Italy, seemed glad to converse with us when he learned that we were Americans. He thinks America will become the strongest foothold of the papal church. His idea of a pilgrimage to Palestine is to visit Ramleh, where St. George was martyred; then Jerusalem, where our Lord Jesus suffered; also, the holy places in its vicinity; then, the mountain where he fasted forty days; then, Jordan, where he was baptized; and the ruins of the church of St. John, near the baptistery; then Bethlehem, where Christ was born, and the birthplace of John the Baptist; and finally, to the Convent of the Holy Cross, where the tree grows out of which the real cross was made. This last locality he seemed to respect most of all.

With the crowd, although not exactly mingled in its ranks, were several very holy dervishes, distinguished chiefly by their rags and filth. These were bare-headed, and went up the road prancing fantastically as they ran.

My informant, the Italian monk, dwelt with much interest upon the case of the Bishop Mastajo, of Central Africa, who had walked a ten months' journey, from his diocese, that in his extreme old age, he might see the spots hallowed by the steps of our divine Lord. This recalled the story of another Abyssinian ruler, a pious lady, who came here three thousand years ago, upon an errand even more praiseworthy. (1 Kings x.)

Good arrangements are made by the different Christian communities to supply the wants of poor pilgrims. Every indigent pilgrim is allowed to stay one day, free of cost, at the Franciscan Convent, at Ramleh; three days at Bethlehem, and thirty days at Jerusalem. Two good meals a day are furnished them gratis. The expenses of this are of course provided for by charitable offerings from all parts of the Christian world. The same provision is made by the Jewish communities, only not quite so bountiful-as they are not so numerous or wealthy as the others. I do not know whether the Mohammedans look after the temporal wants of their pilgrims.

It is remarkable how many events in the Holy Scriptures are connected with caverns. And this is one strong proof of the verity of the sacred narration. Since we entered the hills above Ramleh, we have scarcely ever been out of sight of caverns, natural or artificial; and were they not thus frequently named in the Bible, their absence would be suspicious. But common as these references are on the sacred page-the legends and traditions referring to caves are far more numerous. According to local tradition, the Annunciation to Mary was made in a cave. She was born in a cave; the salutation to Elizabeth; the birth of John the Baptist; the birth of Christ; the agony in Gethsemane; the repentance of Peter; the convention to form the Apostles' Creed; the Transfiguration; these, and very many other important events in Biblical history, are traditionally associated with grottoes or caves.

VALLEY OF ELAH, 9 A. M.

The village of Kulonieh, at the entrance of this famous valley, might, by cleanliness and industry, be made a pleasant place. It is by nature a delicious vale, spacious and fertile. The ground yields good returns for the little labor bestowed on it. The olive, vine and fig thrive wonderfully here, and nothing is more picturesque than the olive, when in groups, although standing by itself I am not struck with its gracefulness, as some travellers profess to be. No doubt ancient Kulonieh was famous for the fatness of the olive and the sprightly juice of the vine. In the poor little gardens around the village, I observe great varieties of vegetables, among which I can distinguish cauliflowers, radishes, onions, beets and carrots. Beans and peas are now ripe here. How little labor would make the folks comfortable.

If there was a large town here formerly, as is most likely, such scriptural passages as these apply to it, as to so many of the older cities of Palestine: "Thou hast broken down all his hedges, thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin." (Ps. lxxxix. 40.) "Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground."

We were conducted to some ancient tombs in the hill-sides, near Kulonieh. But the odor of the bats, that hang in them by thousands, is so inconceivably noisome that I cannot remain long enough to make observations. I say nothing of the exceeding unpleasant creatures that are parasitic to the bats, for they are too common an annoyance in this country to merit special notice. The tombs are excavated in solid rock, often, no doubt, by taking advantage of a