AT last the time had come when we must turn our backs upon Jerusalem. How we would have loved to linger longer in the sacred city! How delightful had been our sojourn in the city where every spot had such holy memories! How near Melchisedek, Abraham, David, the apostles, and above all, the Savior himself, seemed to be as we stood where we knew they had stood, and beheld the scenes where the great deeds of their lives were done! Will and Bayard talked about the crusaders who marched out of Europe eight hundred years ago to fight for the rescue of the Holy Places from the Infidels, and said that they could understand better now the feelings that prompted them. "Why," said they, "if the Turks should deny to Christians the privilege of going to Jerusalem, we would fell like joining a crusade ourselves to drive them out."

      We spent the morning of our departure inside the walls, among the narrow streets, looking once more at some of places of greatest interest. We were to have an early lunch at half [347] after eleven, and to start at twelve o'clock for a ride of nearly forty miles to Jaffa, which we were to make in the afternoon, and at night. We preferred to spend the morning in Jerusalem, and make a draught on the night for travel, so as to have a little more precious time in the Holy City.

      I speak of we, by which I mean two of the boys, myself, and the most of our fellow-travelers. Although David was recovering, we did not think it wise for him to take a night journey, and there was another, a Mr. Hitt, of Kentucky, who had been sick ever since we reached Jerusalem. So Mr. Rolla Floyd, the gentleman whom I have said met us at Beyrout when we landed, and who had again met us at Jerusalem in order to conduct us down to Jaffa, provided a very comfortable carriage for them, and left with them in the morning, so as to reach the end of the journey before night. Poor Mr. Hitt! His was a sad journey. He was confined to his bed all the time we were in Jerusalem; while we were in Egypt he was abed at Alexandria; he was unable to sit up at all on our sea voyage from Egypt to France; we left him in Paris, unable to travel any farther, under the care of an American physician, and we felt that it was very doubtful whether the sick man would ever see dear old Kentucky again, but were delighted to hear, a month after we left him, just as we were sailing from England, that he was much improved, and would soon be able to resume his journey. [348]

      At twelve o'clock, precisely, five barouches were drawn up in front of our hotel, and we bade goodbye to all our Arab attendants except "Ezra," one of them who was to gog down with us to Jaffa. We parted with them with no little feeling, for we had found them faithful and very obliging. It is true that some of them asked for backshish more frequently than was pleasant to us, but that was the fault of their training, and they never sulked when we refused it to them. Joseph the dragoman, and Ezra, rode on horseback as usual, and acted as our escort, but our travelers had parted with the saddle for the rest of the Palestine journey. There is an excellent macadamized road from Jerusalem to the sea-coast, one that would be respectable in any country, and it was with no little pleasure that we entered our carriages for the ride.

      We were turning our faces homeward! There was joy in that thought! We were gazing upon Jerusalem for the last time! That thought brought tears. But we have no time for indulgence in emotions. The drivers have cracked their whips and we are rolling swiftly through the new city to the northwest of the walls, through the olive groves, and out on the fine road that runs over hills, and through valleys, yet constantly descending slowly, as it leads to the northwest.

      After we have escaped from the wilderness of houses and passed out in the open country, we see [349] a mountain on our right hand which is the most conspicuous object in the landscape. We had seen it as we stood on the Mount of Olives, before we first entered the city, and Joseph had then told us its name, but Will seemed to have forgotten, for he scanned it a moment very attentively and then broke out:

      "What mountain is that to the northwest?"

      "Your memory must be short," retorted Bayard. "Joseph pointed it out to us and told us that it was the ancient Mizpeh, so famous in the history of Samuel the prophet."

      "Yes," said I, "that is identified as Mizpeh. The word Mizpeh in Hebrew mean a 'watch-tower.' That tall mountain rises like a watch-tower above all this part of Palestine, and was no doubt used for this purpose. That circumstance gave it its name."

      "Is it called Mizpeh now?" asked Will.

      "No, it is called the Neby Samwil, the 'Prophet Samuel.' It was at Mizpeh that Samuel gathered Israel before his great battle with the Philistines which redeemed the country from bondage. After the enemies were defeated 'Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us' (1 Sam. 7:12). The place seemed to be a kind of capital of Israel in the time of Samuel."

      By this time we were descending a long valley [350] with a village half hidden among olive, fig and other fruit trees on the hillside to our right. Joseph galloped by our carriage and shouted, "This village is now called Kolonieh. It is supposed to be the ancient Emmaus."

      Emmaus! The place where the Risen Lord

KOLONIEH.

supped with the two disciples! (Luke 24:13). Can we be sure that this is the place? Nay, it is probable that the tradition is at fault, for Emmaus was "about three score furlongs from Jerusalem." That would be near seven miles, but this place is less than five miles from the Jaffa Gate. Hence, in the absence of very strong proof, though we [351] would be glad to believe that that was so interesting a spot, we are compelled to doubt the story. Josephus, the Jewish historian who lived in the first century, also spoke of Emmaus as being threescore furlongs from Jerusalem.

      As we ascended from this valley we observed, a short distance to our left in the valley, a pleasant-looking village, so well-built that one might suppose that he was in Europe of America, surrounded by fruit trees. It had so cheerful an appearance that, as Joseph came near, we eagerly asked its name.

      "That," said he, "is Ain Karim. They say that John the Baptist was born here."

      "What is that large building?"

      "That is a Franciscan monastery. The Catholic have always contended that this was John's birthplace, and had a monastery here for a great many years. There are about eight hundred people in the town, nearly all Christians."

      "I read in my Sunday-school commentary a year or two ago that John was probably born at Juttah, near Hebron," said Will.

      "That is the place where the Greek Church say that John was born," answered Joseph. "A great many Greek pilgrims go there every year."

      "Juttah has the better claim, I think," said I. "It was a priestly city 'in the hill country of Judah' (Luke 1:39). Since Zacharias was a priest, his home would be in a priestly city." [352]

      Not long after we had passed Ain Karim we came in sight of a town upon a high hill overlooking our road on the south. The hill is terraced and planted in fruit, and we can see fine fig and olive groves, and vineyards in the valleys and on the hillsides of all the country around. The town, perched on the crest of the hill, looks from the road below like some ancient fortress, and an old ruined buildings of great size suggests some old castle. Our carriages pause for a short time at the base of the hill, and we eagerly wait to hear something of this interesting locality.

      "This town on the hill," said Mr. Crunden, "is called by the natives Abu Gaush. It has also another and older names, for it is also called Kuryet El Enab, which means 'the Town of the Grapes,' a name suggested by the vineyards. But its Bible name means 'the city of the woods,' the Hebrew name being Kirjath Jearim. You have all read of it often under the latter name."

      "It is not the place where the ark remained so many years?" asked Bayard.

      "You are right," said he. "When the Philistines had captured the ark and placed it in their temple, the became frightened, and sent it back. It was first taken to Bethshemish, which is not far from here. The Bible says: 'The men of Bethshemish sent messengers to the inhabitants of [353] Kirjath Jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the Lord: come ye down and fetch it up to you. And the men of Kirjath Jearim came, and fetched up the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill.' Notice how true the Bible account is in the details. Bethshemish is down a thousand feet below Kirjath Jearim, and the ark would have to be brought up."

      "How long did the ark remain here?"

      "For twenty years, until after David had made Jerusalem his capital. Then it was taken there with great ceremony" (1 Chron. 13:5).

      "You said that it is now called Abu Gaush. Why is that?"

      "It gets that name from a robber chief who made it his stronghold and levied tribute on all the country around. It has been only about thirty years since the nest of robbers was destroyed. They would often capture travelers on the way to Jerusalem, rob them, and hold them for ransom. He was very cruel, and a terror to all the country."

      Soon after leaving Kirjath Jearim, as the road leads over an elevation, we find ourselves on the edge of the mountain wall, and catch the first view of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a magnificent prospect which is spread out before us. At the foot of the mountains is the Plain of Sharon, which we can trace northward to Cæsarea, southward to Gaza, and westward to the sea. The whole [354] Philistine country is revealed to our eyes, the seats of Ashdod, Askelon, Ekron, Gaza, and Gath, the five Philistine cities so often mentioned in Hebrew history. Far off by the sea, among the orange groves, Jaffa is pointed out, while Ramleh and Lydda are seen nearer at hand. What is that white belt near the blue line of the sea which is glistening in the evening sun? That is the sand hills which have been thrown up by the sea, and which keep sweeping inland over the plain.

      Now our road enters a defile, and we begin the long descent to the plain. The hills on each side rise higher and higher above us. They are no longer covered with fruit trees, but are bare and desolate. The pass is wild and gloomy, and we do not wonder at the terror that it had for pilgrims in the lawless times, which we hope have forever passed.

      At last we reach the end of the pass, the Bab El Wady, "the Gate of the Valley," where the road passes out on the great Plain of Sharon. We have traveled twenty miles since noon, half the distance to Jaffa, over the hardest portion of our route, and here we pause for half an hour at an inn kept by a hard-faced Jew, whom the boys dubbed by the name of Shylock, in order to rest, water, and feed our horses. One or two of our company ordered some refreshments of Shylock, and found to their sorrow they would have done wisely to make their bargain beforehand. We [355] had met camel trains and mule trains again and again, since we left Jerusalem, patiently plodding their way, heavily laden, from the seaport at Joppa to the capital, and here at the Bab El Wady, were grouped more than a score of animals, resting before beginning the ascent of the heights. For three thousand years this road has been thronged with the carriers who have carried goods between Joppa and Jerusalem. In the times of David and Solomon the long trains were toiling up these hills with the materials for the temple which had been brought to Joppa by sea. But soon, now, the came will lose the monopoly that it has enjoyed for thousands of years. The railroad will be a vigorous competitor.

      Our horses had now finished their meal of oats and chopped straw, and we enter our carriages again, refreshed by tramping around for half an hour, and ready for the rest of the journey. We move swiftly over the hard, smooth road, and pass all too rapidly over a plain that is rich in history. This was Philistine country in the early days of Israelitish history, but almost every spot has some connection with the Bible story, or is woven into some interesting legend. Almost every village is upon the site of some ancient city. This place here, that we are now passing, is an Emmaus, one of several in Palestine, celebrated for a victory won [356]

LOADED CAMELS. [357]

by heroic Judas Maccabæus over the oppressors of his country (1 Mac. 3:40; 4:3; 9:50). This next village is called Latrun, and a tradition says that it was the home of the penitent thief who was crucified with Christ. A more probable story is that it was the city called Modin in the books of the Maccabees, the place where that illustrious family lived, where they began the Jewish was for freedom, and where they were buried (1 Mac. 2:15).

      Now our road, which has run to the northwest with the mountains upon our right ever since we came down upon the plain, enters a long, wide and fertile valley, with gentle hills on either side. Our carriage come to a halt in a group, and Mr. Crunden rising, cries out: "This is the valley of Ajalon. It is the place referred to in Josh. 10:12, '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.' The great battle of Bethhoron, which placed all of Palestine south of Galilee at the feet of Joshua, was fought on those heights that you see to our right, and the Hebrews chased their fleeing enemies down this valley."

      "Will you tell us more of that battle?" said Bayard.

      "With pleasure. The people of Gibeon had [358] made an alliance with Joshua. When the kings of the Amorites heard of it, they raised a great army gathered from all their cities in Southern Palestine, and suddenly appeared around the city of Gibeon, which lies up in those mountains out of our sight. Joshua, with the Hebrew army, was at Gilgal near Jericho, and the people of Gibeon sent messengers in great haste with the urgent message, 'Slack not thy hand from thy servants, but come quickly and save us, and help us; for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered against us.' Joshua lost not a moment. By forced march 'Joshua came upon them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all the night.' The sudden appearance of the Israelites with the morning light was a surprise to their foes, and when they rushed forward with a terrible shout, 'there was not a man who stood before them. . . . The Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Bethhoron.' They fled from Gibeon up a long ascent to the upper Bethhoron, and 'it came to pass as they fled before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, the Lord raised great stones from heaven upon them,' hail stones, I suppose."

      "Can we see Bethhoron from here?"

      "There are two Bethhorons, the upper Bethhoron, to which the fleeing Amorites ascended, [359] the lower Bethhoron, to which they went down (Josh. 10:11). Do you see those white houses on the crest of that high hill? That is the upper Bethhoron. The other village is in the descent, and cannot be seen from here. It is near the foot of the pass. I suppose that Joshua stood at the summit of the pass, and as he looked down it and over this plain saw them crowded with enemies hard pressed by his own soldiers. Then it was that he prayed for daylight long enough to make the victory decisive."

      As he passed, Dr. Porteous, an aged minister in our company, read:

      This plain over which we are now riding is a great grain field. Much of it has been reaped this last summer. The boys note the fact that there are no fences, and ask if all belongs to one land owner. I answer that it has never been the custom [360] in Palestine to divide fields by hedges or fences. "Do you see those heaps of stones extending in a line? They mark a boundary between the possessions."

      "But," said Will, "I could scatter all those stones in an hour, and then how could one find the line?"

      "In that case you would bring upon yourself not only the vengeance of the people, but this crushing penalty: 'Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor's landmarks: and all the people shall say, Amen' (Deut. 27:17)."

      The sun was low in the west when we rolled swiftly into Ramleh, the largest place between Jerusalem and Jaffa, a city of about four thousand inhabitants. Here we dismount from our carriages and spend an hour very pleasantly, especially the portion devoted to an excellent lunch which had been thoughtfully provided. The people of Ramleh are ambitious to give their place scriptural associations, and hence they showed us a convent which they insisted had been built on the site of the house of Nicodemus who came to the Savior by night (John 3:1), and they also claimed that Joseph of Arimathea, who provided our Crucified Lord with a tomb, had lived here. I remarked to the boys that these legends had no foundation. [361]

      "Is Ramleh mentioned in the Scriptures?" asked Bayard.

      "Of course it must be," said Will, "for I read in the letters from Palestine of the great Dr. Talmage, that 'Samuel the Prophet was born here, here judged Israel, and was buried here when he died.'"

      "It is remarkable that Dr. Talmage should make such a mistake," said I. "There is not a word in the Bible to indicate that Samuel was ever on this plain. It was then a Philistine country. Ramleh is not named in the Scriptures, nor is there any mention of it before the times of the Crusaders. It was at various times the headquarters of Godfrey, whose sword you saw at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, of Richard the Lion-Hearted, of Saladin, and in 1799 of Napoleon Bonaparte, when he was seeking to conquer Egypt and Syria."

      Before we go on we are led to the great Tower, a square structure of stone surrounded by ruins, which we ascend by one hundred and twenty well-worn steps. The twilight was gathering, but there was light enough still to reveal a glorious landscape of plain, and mountain, and sea. The sites of the cities which once made this plain famous, Cæsarea to the north, Jaffa to the northwest, and the Philistine cities of Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, Askalon, and Gaza, were all visible.

      Now we hear the trumpets of Joseph, and hurry at once to our carriages. The night is setting in, and we still have ten miles to make before we reach [362] our quarters. The road, however, is smooth and hard, and we roll rapidly forward. At first we move between the wheat fields, and finally, we can see by the light of the stars that we have entered a forest of verdure. On either side of the highway the trees are standing in what appears in the gloom to be an impenetrable rampart. We do not need to be told that we have entered the famous orchards and gardens of Jaffa which surround the city for miles. Presently we observe lighted houses on either side, and move along the streets of what looks like an American or European town, until, at nine o'clock, we halt at the Palestine Hotel, owned by Mr. Rolla Floyd, where we find an excellent meal awaiting us, and pleasant quarters for the night.

      We slept sweetly to the music of the waves on the seashore, and in the morning wee out on the balconies of the Palestine Hotel to see what was hidden from our sight when we arrived in the darkness. All around us was a sea of verdure, and over it we could see the old city of Jaffa, the Joppa of Bible times, rising around its hill. We were in a new city which has grown up outside of the old walls on the north, a modern city, more American than Asiatic. The houses are new and some are constructed of wood, frame buildings, made of material brought from America. Over twenty [363] years ago an American colony settled here, of whom Mr. Rolla Floyd is probably the only man who had remained, but a hundred German families of the "Temple" have followed, and these, with other Europeans, have worked a transformation along the seashore. Here we found a steam flouring mill, the second that we had seen in Palestine, and all around we see indications of European influence.

      We now see that the forests, which we had noticed in the darkness as we approached the city, are orchards of oranges, lemons, pomegranates and date palms. The culture of fruit around Jaffa has become a great industry. The soil is fertile, and water is easily obtained by sinking shallow wells to a water bed which underlies the whole plain. From these wells it is pumped for irrigation. There are said to be four hundred orchards around Jaffa ranging in size from three to twelve acres, and we learn that 10,000,000 oranges a year are shipped from the port. Melons also are raised in great abundance. We observed, too, that the orchards were hedged around with impenetrable walls of cactus in order to prevent thieves from stealing the fruit. We remembered that the Savior in the parable spoke of "a certain householder who planted a vineyard and hedged it." It has always been common in Palestine to leave the grain fields unfenced, but to hedge the fruit orchards.

      After breakfast Joseph took us for a walk into [364]

JOPPA. [365]

the old city. As soon as we entered it we at once recognized the familiar sights of an oriental city. There were the usual narrow, winding alleys called streets, the ill-favored, ill-natured, half-starved scavenger dogs, looking as though they were the outcasts of their own race; there was on every hand filth and offensive odors; there were the indispensable camels and donkeys crowding all the open spaces; there were the shady bazaars with turbaned merchants sitting on their feet with their stock of goods scattered around them; there were the gloomy, prison-like houses with latticed windows, the mosques with minarets, the porters bending under their heavy burdens, the barefooted men and women; these were scenes which we had witnessed ever since we set foot in Asia.

      "Now," said Joseph, "let us go to the house of Simon the Tanner, which was by the seaside."

      "The very place, Yusef," exclaimed Bayard, "that I was about to ask about. I see that Baedeker says that it can still be seen."

      We then threaded our way through the narrow streets to the south side of the town, near the seaside, and at last paused in a little courtyard, where there was an ancient fountain, and a great stone basin which looked as though it might have been a tan-vat, all under the shade of a gigantic and wide-spreading fig tree. A wall prevented a view [366] of the sea, but we could hear the waves beating close at hand. In the yard was an ancient stone building, the lower part of which was consecrated as a Mohammedan mosque, on account of a tradition

AN EASTERN HOUSETOP.

that a miracle had, at some remote period, been wrought here. A stone flight of stairs led to the housetop on the outside, a very common thing in this country, which explains how the four who carried the paralytic at Capernaum to the presence of Christ, brought him to the housetop (Mark 2:1-12). The roof was of stone and cement, and was flat, with a kind of wall or parapet extending [367] around the edge. Such a place would not only be a fine summer sleeping-place during the rainless season, but a quiet and retired place for prayer, since the parapet shuts off the view from the yard and street.

      Is this house of Simon the Tanner, where Peter had the vision which prepared him for the messengers of Cornelius the Gentile? If this be true, what an interesting spot to the twenty-seven Gentile Christians standing on that housetop this November day! How thankful are we that Christ came as the Savior of the world instead of being only the national Messiah that the Jews expected! We talk of the prophecies which declared that he would be a "Light of the Gentiles," of our Lord's Commission, sending the gospel to all nations, of the narrow prejudices of even the Jewish Christians, of the successive steps leading to the breaking down of all differences between Jews and Gentiles; Pentecost, the persecution that began with the death of Stephen, the conversion of the Samaritans, of the Ethiopian, of Saul of Tarsus, and Peter's vision and call to Cæsarea. Is this the place of the vision?

      It is in Joppa, by the seaside, in a place where tanning was carried on form time immemorial; the yard seems to have been a tannery, and, at least for a very long period, this has been pointed out as the place. So real did it seem to us, as we gazed over the wall to the sea at our feet, and looked [368] upon scenes in the streets, just such as Peter saw when he ascended the housetop, that involuntarily we were in the mood for a little season of thanksgiving, and after David had read to us the account in Acts 10:1-20, we startled the Mohammedan worshipers in the mosque below by making the air over their heads ring with

We could see the wonder our joyous strains excited. Every window was filled with faces, and the passengers in the streets paused to hear. The words were in an unknown tongue to them, but the song, so different from the sing-song music of the East, must have been recognized as Christian.

      As we threaded our way back we passed by an Armenian convent which has a mournful history. When Napoleon Bonaparte, before he became Emperor, invaded Egypt and Syria, he took Joppa and converted this convent into a hospital where he placed his sick and wounded. The failure to take Acre and the British re-enforcements to the Turks made his expedition a failure and compelled him to retreat to Egypt. He had no way of transporting the hundreds of unfortunate ones in the hospital across the desert, and the route by sea was in possession of his enemies. If he abandoned them they would be massacred by the Arabs, and [369] it is said that he ordered them to be poisoned as the only means of escape from the tortures which would befall them at the hands of their barbarous enemies. It has been plead in apology that the stern order was in order to save them from suffering; that they were unconsciously and painlessly put into a sleep that was the sleep of death, and that it was a humane act. No such apology, however, can be plead for another other, which, it is charged, was issued at the same time. There were 4,000 Turkish prisoners in the hands of the French whom they could neither exchange nor transport to Egypt. It is asserted that the poor men were massacred. These events occurred in 1799.

      On our walk we passed a large prison-like pen of stone, with iron bars over the windows, within which several hundred men were confined. I asked Joseph whether this was a prison, and why so great a multitude were imprisoned within it? He answered that it was not a common prison, but a pen to confine recruits for the army, and that these men whom we saw had been seized in the villages, carried here, and would be confined until they were shipped to a distant part of the Empire, from whence they could not escape. This is the way the Sultan recruits his army. Squads of soldiers are sent into the villages, who seize all able-bodied men they can lay their hands on; these are imprisoned in barracks like these, until they are transported to a distant province. In the [370] army they are ill-paid and ill-fed and poorly clothed. When their time expires they are discharged at some point, perhaps a thousand miles from home, without money and without any means of return, and the chances are that, when the poor native falls into the clutches of the recruiting gang, he will never see his family again. It is a sad thing to be under such a government.

      When we returned about noon to the Palestine Hotel we found some Arabs there with a group of camels anxious to give us the novelty of a ride upon one of these great, ungainly chargers. Of course nothing could please the boys better, and we had an amusing experience. First, the beast was made to squat to the earth, and then the boys climbed into the pack, or saddle, upon its back. Then, as directed, they braced themselves firmly, to keep from being thrown over its head as it reared, first its hindquarters, and paused for a moment with its body at an angle of forty-five degrees; then again they braced themselves to prevent being thrown off behind as it brought up its forequarters with a lurch. They succeeded in retaining their seats, but presented rather a ludicrous spectacle perched on top and clinging fast as the beast swung along with its very peculiar strides. After the ride was over the beast was made to kneel down to the earth again, and the boys descended, delighted with their novel experience. [371]

      While we were gathered around the table at lunch our conversation naturally turned to the curious old city whose streets we had been threading. Will asked:

      "How old is Jaffa? It must be as old as the times of Christ, since Dorcas lived there, whom Peter raised to life again, and Simon the Tanner, with whom Peter found an abode."

      "Have you forgotten about Jonah the Prophet?" exclaimed David. "Don't you remember that when he tried to escape from the command to go and warn Nineveh, he took a ship at Joppa to sail to Tarshish?" (Jonah 1:3.)

      "You will have to go back further still," said Bayard. Then he read from 2 Chron. 2:16.

      "'Then Hiram, the king of Tyre, answered in writing which he sent unto Solomon. . . . And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need; and we will bring it to thee in floats to Joppa, and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.' Joppa is as old as Solomon's time, and that brings it to 1000 B.C."

      "It is much older," said I. "It is mentioned in Joshua 19:46, under the name of Japho. It was a Philistine city over thirty-eight hundred years ago, and is among the oldest cities of the world. Mr. Crunden, will you not tell us something of the history of Joppa?" [372]

      "With pleasure. Under the various names of Japho, Joppa, Yafa and Jaffa, it is known to have existed nearly 4,000 years. When Palestine was divided between the tribes it was in the borders of Dan, but was not conquered by this tribe. It appears in the times of David and Solomon as the seaport of Jerusalem, as it has been ever since. When Jonah wished to take a ship on the Mediterranean it was natural for him to come to Joppa. It was the seat of an Apostolic church within a very few years after the founding of the first church in Jerusalem. It must have been a very populous at this time for Josephus says that in the Jewish war, about A.D. 70, 80,000 of its inhabitants were slain by a Roman general. It was taken and retaken a number of times during the Crusades. Afterwards, for a long period, it was almost deserted. About two hundred years ago it began to revive, and is now growing quite rapidly. It is though to have from 20,000 to 25,000 inhabitants, and has a considerable commerce.

      We were called from table to prepare our luggage. The porters were waiting to carry it aboard the steamer, which had been in the port loading freight the whole day. Indeed, had the weather looked stormy we would have been hurried aboard in the morning. Jaffa has no harbor for large vessels, only an anchorage, about a mile from shore, [373] and when the waves run high it is impossible to either land passengers or for them to embark. It is often the case that passengers who wish to leave the steamers here have to be carried past to Beyrout, and it is sometimes the case that those who come down, as we had done, to take the steamer, are compelled to see it sail off and leave them, and to wait for the next steamer day. We were fortunate, however, in having fine weather and a smooth sea.

      Mr. Floyd and Joseph attended us, in order to see us safely aboard, and to bid us farewell on the steamer's deck. The boats which we found awaiting us belonged to Mr. Floyd, bore the Stars and Stripes, and were rowed by stout Arab boatmen, who were as much at home on the waves as on the land. As we were rowed out we observed the peculiarities of the landing which make it dangerous. A few hundred yards from shore a ledge of rock runs along the coast, appearing here and there above the water, and there is only an opening about one hundred fifty feet wide through which the boats can pass. When the mighty breakers of a storm are rolling over the ledge it is very difficult to make this passage, and boats are often capsized. Yet Mr. Floyd assured us that it was a rare thing for a passenger to be lost. The boatmen swim like fish, and every one is instructed to seize a passenger and swim ashore with him if the boat is overturned. "It is only," said he, [374] "when there are more passengers than boatmen that any one is lost." A friend of mine, a lady, was cast into the sea here, not long after this conversation, and a boatman carried her safely to land.

      There is, however, one danger in the waters against which the expertness of the boatmen cannot provide. There have been man-eating sharks about here ever since the great fish that swallowed Jonah. The boys, who had not had a good swim since they bathed in the Jordan, asked Joseph in the morning about a good place to go down to the shore and take a plunge in the surf, but when Joseph told them about an English gentleman, not long before, who had only waded out where the water was three or four feet deep, when one seized him by the thigh and bit out a great piece of the flesh, they concluded to take their sea-baths elsewhere. The poor Englishman was laid up for a long time, and lamed for life.

      Now we ascend to the deck for the La Seyne, and the time has come for parting with those who have been so kind to us that we feel that they are friends. Joseph, our dragoman, has served us so well that we leave him a part assurance of our esteem in a gift of about $50, in which we all bore a part, and we assure both him and Mr. Floyd that when we take our next Palestine tour we wish our camping arrangements to under under their management. [375]

      What a fine appearance Joppa presents from the sea! There is the sloping hill, which rises to the height of a hundred and fifty feet, and the rows of white houses, terrace after terrace, cover it to the top. All around, except on the seaward side, are the green orchards and gardens; beyond these the great plain, and then the blue mountain wall which hides the cities which were the ancient home of the Hebrew race. Some have said that the word Joppa means "the Beautiful." If that is the meaning of the name, it must first have been given by some one who looked upon it from the sea.

      The ship was not ready to sail until nearly night, and the boys amused themselves watching the transfer of the freight brought from shore in boats and lighters to the hold of the vessel. They were especially interested in the methods of loading cattle. A number were brought out in lighters, but how were they to be lifted from the surface of the water over the high sides of the ship many feet above? That was soon solved, when a rope was thrown around the horns of tone, and it was drawn up at the end of the arm of a crane, dangling in mid-air, kicking in vain, then transferred by the crane to the hatchway and let down into the hold. It was a rough experience, but did not seem to hurt the cattle. We decided that to be hung by the horns was preferable to having the rope around the neck.

      As the sun sets the ship moves off with her bow [376] pointing towards Egypt, the next country on our programme of travel. Our hearts are sad with the thought that we will probably never see Palestine again. Glorious land! dear, not for what it is, but what it has been. Every mountain, and river, city and hamlet has a voice that tells a wonderful story. All the desecration of sin, and blood, and pollution for eighteen hundred years, can never make us forget that this is the Christ-land. Great has been thy glory; great thy sins; and great thy tribulation! Is the day of tribulation nearly over? Are the "times of the Gentiles" nearly fulfilled? The Past is written, what has the Future to reveal? Such are our reflections as we retire and fall into slumber, to awake next morning in Port Said. [377]

[YFBL 347-377]