attention. Had they been so, Sorel might have kept more faithfully to his post, and adhered more undeviatingly to his accustomed respect and vigilance. He was getting rather vain now, and sometimes lost his temper. When Mary next saw Lord Harry, he told her, almost with tears, that he had been neglected. She could not suppose he alluded to his servant, and understood him to be complaining of herself and her sister. She was hurt, and said a little in self-defence. He said nothing more; but as she left him, it struck her that he looked very, very sad. That look haunted her afterwards; and occasioned self-reproach.

The next day, the house was closed. All the houses on the green were closed, out of respect to one who had been, in some sort, their sovereign; for Lord Harry was dead. Nobody could give any account of his last moments. Sorel represented him to have gone off quite peacefully; but it could not be satisfactorily ascertained that Sorel was actually present at the last moment; and certainly no one else was.

The Beauforts were unaffectedly sorry. It was a great shock to them, though they had so long expected it. Mary and Laura found that they had really cared for him very much: they recalled to one another his many kindnesses; and shed genuine tears. Captain Beaufort told everybody he had the satisfaction of thinking he had been a great comfort to him to the last. There were newspaper summaries of his character and conduct; some of them entirely panegyrics; others as uncompromising as if dictated by Minos and Radamanthus. There was a very grand funeral.

Afterwards the will was read. There were kind remembrances to a great many friends, very judiciously apportioned: kindest of all, to the Beauforts; without drawing any envy and animadversion on them by disproportioned munificence; but expressing gratitude to them for having cheered his declining years, which they most certainly had.

Captain Beaufort hardly knew what to think of it. He was disappointed; but

did not show it much; and soon made it his business to remind his friends how disinterested he and his girls had always been. Lady Bell and Lady Kitty found nothing they could particularly cavil at.

Sorel was not mentioned. All were surprised: more surprised than he showed himself, though he looked very pale. There was a general impression that he had been rather unhandsomely overlooked. Nobody knew whether he thought so himself.

And so this was the end of Lord Harry. The girls wore mourning for him, and increasingly felt pride and complacence in having been so closely connected with him. It was just when this feeling was strongest, that Mary was deeply wounded by a letter from Dalmayne, upbraiding her for having her head still so full of her old admirer that instead of writing 'my dear Dalmayne,' she had addressed him as 'my dear Lord Harry.' Mary was confounded: she could not believe it of herself, till she recalled the circumstances under which her letter had been written. Then, being angry with herself, she proceeded to be angry with him, telling him that his reproofs read strangely when his innocent, involuntary object of suspicion was dead; and boldly expressing her regret for him and dwelling on his kind

ness.

Mary felt relieved when she had thus asserted herself. But if her temper was relieved, her conscience was disturbed, when the letter which she knew and meant should give pain, was beyond recall.

"Oh, what a temper is mine," thought she despairingly. "And his is yet worse; so that we never shall get on together."

There the correspondence ceased. She was more unhappy than ever; and deserved considerable praise for showing it so little. But her manner was becoming hard and gloomy-there was no one she now cared to please, except her father and Laura; and she could not please herself,

With sadness rather than pleasure, she prepared to accompany them abroad again. She afterwards thought she had had a presentiment something was to

SAFED is a city set on a hill, which looks down upon Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee, and is one of the four holy cities of the Jews in Palestine. It is not mentioned in the Bible. The Moslem quarter is on the north side and opposite the principal fountain; its houses are of modern construction and made of stone brought from the ruins of the Castle of the Knights Templars that crowns the hill; and the red doors and windows and the lively appearance of its population, had nothing suggestive of the destructive earthquake of 1837. The Jews, however, though not so numerous, have the best location. Their quarter is larger in extent and commands a finer view, overlooking upper Galilee, Mt. Tabor, the lake, and the hill country of Judea. These Jews are bigoted and fanatical, and unclean in their dress, streets, and dwellings. German Jews predominate, but all wear the Seknaji costume, which consists of the Arab dress, with a broad-brim black felt hat, and shaved heads, with the exception of a long curl hanging over each temple.

We walked through the Jewish bazaars, in which were many shops not unlike that described in Bleak House. Among the thousand Jews who reside here we saw many curious types of faces, but they had one quality in commonall were dirty. Our sunset walk was full of interest, especially after we passed from the filthy lanes to the pure air of the mountain, where we could look down upon the waters of Genesareth and off towards Jerusalem.

Next morning I visited the Jewish quarters again and found the devotees at prayer in their principal synagogue, which is a fine structure in comparison with the buildings around it. The men were reading and bowing with great rapidity, while the women were praying in the next apartment. The condition of the Jews seems to be improving everywhere, except in the Holy Land, where they do

not labor or trade to any extent, but prefer to live on the charitable contributions of their co-religionists in Europe and America. The Jew in his exile finds that the whole earth is his home, so far as he can feel himself at home anywhere, and generally a grave in the sacred soil is the utmost object of his desire, but the Jews of Safed, Tiberias and Jerusalem wish to live, as well as die, in the Promised Land. The different views in vogue as to the return of the Jews, led me to ask a very intelligent French Jew, my neighbor one day at the table d'hôte at Jaffa, his idea of the subject. He was a wealthy winegrower, and probably an infidel, but his reply is worth repeating: "The Jews," said he, " are a trading, not an agricultural people, they could do nothing in Palestine if they did return, in the commercial line; and although the Jews have maintained a distinct existence in all countries, they have also acquired the nationality and the prejudices of those countries. It would be impossible therefore for English and French Jews to live together in Palestine, for they would have no more in common than do the English and French people, who have never loved each other. It would require as much of a miracle to bring the Jews back to Palestine and keep them there, as it did originally to accomplish their dispersion."

We packed up our movables, and, with our houses on the backs of the mules, we left Safed at 10 o'clock, April 20, 1865, and soon reached the wonderful cliff of Achbera. From the road we looked upon the bare perpendicular face of the rock, 500 feet high, and full of caves, natural and artificial. The interior grotto was once fortified, and the entire place was held by robbers, who made their retreat inaccessible by barricading its only approach, up a steep and most difficult pass. They commanded the road from Safed south to Tiberias, Jerusalem and Egypt, and no doubt drove a paying trade in

their mountain fastnesses, until they were driven out by soldiers let down in great boxes suspended from the summit by derricks and iron chains.

Passing south we saw what a trick had been played on the landscape. the landscape. The mountain rises gradually on its eastern slope to the height above mentioned, and one walking on the table land at the top would look forward with uninterrupted vision, until his steps would be arrested by this immense precipice. It is not a gorge or a chasm, for there is no corresponding bluff on the other side of the road, 500 feet below; and the ground stretches gradually upward and outward for many miles. The country around is quiet and not ambitious, and seems meek and overawed by the awful face of the cliff, which, with its cavernous eyes, is ever staring it out of countenance. Nature, in fact, seems to have dropped a stitch in knitting up the landscape, for all the strata of the rock come abruptly to an end as if bitten squarely off. A lateral section of the hill is thus presented and its hidden mysteries revealed. We waded through the clover and poppy and malva, that grew high as our horses' heads, and through mustard bushes and thistle and buckthorn that grew higher still, as we passed this ancient haunt of the robbers. Bears, and some say lions, infest this region, but we saw none, and my breech-loader did nothing to illustrate the natural history of the Bible. My friend the Doctor tells me that he saw a female lion here some years ago, which, roused from sleep, after having gorged itself on a sheep, bounded away in fright, but remained visible for ten minutes while rushing up the mountain.

This charming country abounds in surprises. Mountains, high and well wooded, embosom great basins of rich wheat and rank vegetation, with innumerable views of land and water scenery. We descended a thousand feet from Safed, to reach the base of Achbera, and then a thousand more to Ain Tineh, the supposed site of Genesareth. Wild pigeon were numerous as we drew near the

lake, and the buckthorn and haw bushes contained myriads of birds' nests-some trees being literally full, and their occupants filled the air with their chirping, and rose in clouds around us. These wild field-sparrows are full of song and activity and seem filled with electricity-tiring the eye in the attempt to follow their rapid movements.

We lunched on the shore of the lake, about 700 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. The water at the "fountain of figs" is not good, and we were obliged to use the water-skin filled in the morning at Achbera. Wild fig trees grow out of the fountain, and hawthorn trees cast their shade upon it. One of these afforded us protection from the sun, while we opened our canteen, near some straggling Bedouins, who were encamped by the water. The peasants ploughing in the field near us, said they were from Ramah of Naphtali, back on the hills.

Kadesh-Naphtali, a place I have not yet visited, was recently offered for sale. Some two years ago I was on the point of purchasing this district for an American friend, who, for less than $10,000 might have become the possessor of a very fertile estate, rich in Scriptural associations. The conditions of the sale were examined, but my friend concluded that, although the price was small, and the title, resulting from a sale of crown lands by the provincial government, pretty good, the care of its administration and the necessity of keeping on good terms with the Bedouins, would make it a dear bargain in the end.

Heretofore the tenure of land held by foreigners in Turkey has not been of a character to inspire confidence. Theoretically, foreigners were not allowed to hold land, although this rule had been relaxed in many places and at different times. At best it was only by the sufferance of the local authorities that subjects of foreign powers could get land titles written in their own names-and this for the reason that foreigners are not subject in non-Christian countries to the local jurisdiction. It was customary however for foreigners to hold land under fic

titious titles, with the consent of the Ottoman officials and with the knowledge of the central government. Land could be purchased in the name of an Ottoman subject, and the transfer made by this native, though, not entered of record by the cadi, was recognized as vesting the property in the person who supplied the money for the purchase. All questions concerning the land were examined in the name of the nominal native owner by the Ottoman tribunals, regard being had however to the interests of the real proprietor, whose name did not appear. The authorities thus escaped the dilemma of a conflict of jurisdiction over any portion of Turkish soil. Another fictitious title was resorted to for the same purpose, of a still more singular character. Women are not regarded in Turkish law as having any nationality, and consequently any woman of whatever country may hold land in her own name. Hence many foreigners have purchased and still hold lands in the name of a wife, sister or daughter. My friend thought it would be a nice bit of property-a principality in the Holy Land, but not being able to hold it at that time in his own name, he preferred not to make an investment that would involve female proprietorship on one hand, with Bedouin contestants for black mail on the other. The rumored insalubrity of the climate in that district confirmed him in his decision. Yet it would have been a profitable speculation; and the administration of an estate on the hills of Naphtali would have been a novel change for a retired millionnaire, from the busy world of Wall street.

But now among the many reforms initiated by the government of the present Sultan, we have in actual existence, the right of foreigners to hold real property in their own names. This right is at present restricted to the subjects of those Powers, whose ambassadors have signed the protocol drawn up at the Porte. It is understood that England, France and Austria have agreed to the proposed basis of foreign proprietorship. The United States and Russia, with some other nations, have declined to adhere to this arVOL. IX.-9

rangement, on the ground, principally, that their citizens and subjects would be brought too much under the control of the local officials. The terms on which this right is granted, are, in substance, these: Foreigners may hold property in the Ottoman empire, upon the same conditions and subject to the same taxes, restrictions and courts, as Ottoman subjects-except in the province of Hedjaz, where they are not admitted. Their rights, as regards their persons and personal property, guaranteed to them by treaty, are not touched, but the regulation of the succession and alienation, of the land, is subject to the provisions of the Ottoman law; and all questions arising out of the possession or transfer of real estate are to be adjusted by the Ottoman courts.

The right thus granted has not been availed of to any considerable extent, and this is partly owing to the fact that the Ottoman law concerning real estate has not been codified, and is not accessible to would-be purchasers, who are reluctant to place themselves in subjection to the lex non scripta of the Moslem judges. Under this new regulation the domicil of the foreign landholder cannot be entered by the local police, unaccompanied by a consular delegate, in case the said domicil is within nine hours distance from the consulate; but if the consul fails to respond within 24 hours from the time the notice is served, the local functionaries may force an entrance in pursuit of criminals or for proper cause, if accompanied by three of the elders of the community. This may also be done where the domicil is located outside of the limit of 9 hours distance.

Although the subjects of the Powers who have accepted this arrangement have made objections to its provisions, it is understood that the Porte does not propose to offer any better terms, and is not anxious that the conditions offered should be availed of. Doubtless, under the provisions of any agreement that could be made, there would be many complications between natives and foreigners, and between consular tribunals and those of the local government, and