a close row of silver coins upon a string round the head and chin, something like a horse-collar-a very heavy ornament, one would imagine; but it is their dowry; and if so, any lover who cast eyes upon his mistress, could make a calculation as to how much she would be worth. The women in these parts have an ugly practice of tattooing themselves on the face and arms. They make unsightly blue marks, or arrangements of spots, on the forehead, the corners of the mouth, and along the under lip. The girls generally have the nails, and often nearly the whole hand, dyed with henna; and now and then I observed some whose eyelids were darkened with kohl, giving them a coquettish appearance, not always unbecoming. The poorest adorn themselves with some kind of ornament, such as brass bracelets, little common necklaces of beads or of amber, or ear-rings hanging in the ear by a thread. The nose-jewel, or nose-ring, is commonly worn; and the younger children not unfrequently wear silver anklets with little bells upon them. But in the villages they are all wretchedly clothed, and look starved; they are, moreover, generally very ugly and filthily dirty.

Few places are more full of tender interest than this town of Nazareth, a place so identified with our Saviour's early life that "He shall be called a Nazarene" has almost passed into a proverb; and that word became for many a long year after a byword and a reproach. The despised sect of the Nazarenes was destined hereafter to be the plaything of tyrants, the food of wild beasts, and the fuel of the martyr's stake. In Nazareth lived Mary, the mother of our Lord, before she attained that distinction; in Nazareth was the carpenter's shop of Joseph, her espoused husband; and at Nazareth dwelt the Divine Boy during His nonage, and was here subject to His parents, though growing yearly in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. Nazareth, therefore, was not only the scene of our Lord's early life, but it was here also that that great preliminary event took place called the Annunciation of the Virgin, when the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin, and said, “Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women!"

From what has already been said concerning the holy sites in Palestine, it will not be matter of wonder that the place of the Annunciation has been seized upon by the rival sects. The Latin and the Greek Churches, respectively, have each chapels of the Annunciation; and although it is not improbable that the traditionary site is

not absolutely the correct one, the Latin chapel possesses certain advantages over the Greek; and probably few, if any, travellers would be in Nazareth without paying a pilgrim visit to the Latin convent, where all the details of the Annunciation are described as having special habitation and name. All such places must necessarily be upon a different level from that at present existing, it being well known that in process of centuries accumulations have buried the ancient spots, which must therefore be excavated, and reached by descending steps. The grotto of the Annunciation is no exception to this rule. Passing in at the gate of the convent, and through two courts, we enter the church, which is decorated with Scripture scenes painted to look like tapestry; and from this church the descent is made of fifteen steps into an ante-chamber, out of which opens another similar chamber, the grotto of the Annunciation, carved in marble, and decorated with numerous suspended silver lamps. A picture of the Annunciation is placed over the altar, near which is a cross to mark the spot where it is said the Virgin stood during the angel's salutation, while in a niche to the left between two columns it is believed the angel Gabriel had his station. There is an air of antiquity about the place, and a solemnity, not unallied to superstition, pervades the surroundings; and this it is partly which makes one half believe that the site must be genuine, especially if the visitor be himself of a reverent disposition, and not disposed to make too light of such things in general. But it is not necessary to indorse all that is told by those who have lived so long amid these scenes, and described them so often that it would be a wonder, indeed, if they did not fully believe all they said. One of their far-fetched notions is that a certain broken granite column, which they point out, attached to the roof, is the result of a wicked attempt of unbelievers in a past age to demolish the holy place; and that the roof, thus deprived of its support, is sustained by a miracle. Indeed, Italian Catholics will tell us that Mary's house, in which she was visited by the angel, was conveyed bodily by supernatural means to Italy, where at Loretto it constitutes the celebrated santa casa, so much esteemed as a shrine for pilgrims of all ranks and of all nations. This must, however, have been a duplicate.

The Greek Church has also a favoured site, called the Fountain of the Virgin, in consonance with a very ancient tradition that the Annunciation was made to the Virgin while she was at the well drawing water. The traveller must choose which of these places has the greatest air of probability.

It cannot be supposed that a place like Nazareth, where our Lord passed His youth, could be without an identified site of His early dwelling. In the true Gospels we have indeed the scantiest references to this interesting period. The allusions to His early age are of the slightest, though in the apocryphal Gospels there is ample gratification to the curious and indiscriminate. But the few memorials we possess are sufficient groundwork for the imagination to feed upon, and to surround Nazareth with a tale of intense interest. Doubtless our Lord was a child like other children, a boy like other boys, in His instincts and pursuits; always qualified by the consideration that He was sinless and pure. But in innocent youthful spirits, can we doubt that he joined in sports with lads of His age, to a certain extent, and within certain limits? and in any case may we not be sure that His feet were familiar with the streets of Nazareth? and no less with the environs immediately surrounding? And since He was subject to His parents, and the reputed son of Joseph the carpenter, the husband of Mary, His undoubted mother, what special interest would surround the spot, if it could be identified, where His father toiled at his trade, with the son perhaps as an assistant! Such a spot is pointed out, with what correctness I cannot say the workshop of Joseph. The building on the surface is modern, and is now a Latin chapel; but the lower part of it rests upon an ancient wall distinctly visible, and said to be the wall of the veritable workshop. It may be so. I could not help feeling it might be so, and regarding the worn old stones, I lingered, pondering, until the turning of a key in the lock made me look round, to find the place deserted by all but myself. I was locked in; and thus roused from my thoughts, I at once gave the alarm, for I knew not how long it might be before I should be released. I should not have objected to being left here an hour by myself, but as it was possible I might remain from Saturday till Monday, or longer, I had to avoid the risk. But, if true, what a spot was this! the more interesting perhaps from the very scantiness of the information we possess concerning the employment of our Lord's time, from twelve years until He began to be about thirty years of age. But we have no reason to believe that He spent all His years in meditation, or in any way different from others of His own age. Had He done so, He would have excited remark, and not have remained unnoticed, as He appears to have done, until the time arrived for His public ministry. We may judge therefore that as long as He was subject to His parents, He also employed Himself as His father

desired, which would have been in all probability by assisting him in his trade.

Another of the places in Nazareth to which the stranger is conducted is the chapel of the Table of Christ, which contains a large stone slab, upon which, in virtue of a very ancient tradition, He is believed to have often eaten bread with His disciples. The table was carefully covered over; but during our visit I observed that one corner of the cover was lifted, and walking round to see what was going on, I noticed that two of the custodians were busily engaged in scooping with a knife in a large hole, in order to scrape out some fragments of stone-dust, to be carried away as a relic by some pilgrims who were present.

It will be recollected that it was at Nazareth that that important event occurred which was the beginning of His ministry, and which we read of in Luke iv. 16 and following verses, "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read," from which we learn, at all events, that previously to this time He had been wont to take part in the services of the synagogue. The passage which He then read from the prophet Esaias constituted His first public ministration after the temptation in the wilderness, wherein He announced a new phase of His career in the words, "“This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. The scene of this event is also pointed out, the site being occupied by a Greek church, in which full service was going on at the time of my visit.

It behoved our Lord, however, to quit Nazareth, the city where He had been brought up, and possibly for that very reason. In that city He was so familiarly known as the son of the carpenter, that when He began to perform mighty works, and to utter strange sayings, His fellow-townspeople began to say among themselves, "Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son is not His mother called Mary? and His brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they all these things? And

not all with us? whence then hath this man they were offended in Him" (Matt. xiii. 54). And St. Luke tells us that " they rose up, and thrust Him out of the city, and led Him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast Him down headlong" (Luke iv. 29). Our Lord therefore quitted this unbelieving city of Nazareth, and went and dwelt at Capernaum. But the hill from which the people would have cast Him down head

long has not escaped those who would rediscover all the ancient sites. The mount of precipitation, however, has by some strange fancy been located some two miles from Nazareth, notwithstanding that there are many precipitous spots behind the town on the slopes of the hill of which I have already spoken. In this case, however, any one can correct for himself the monkish tradition; and, moreover, it must be borne in mind that Nazareth was for centuries subsequent to these events a deserted spot as far as Christians were concerned. It is said that there was not a Christian living there previous to Constantine the Great, and that no Christian pilgrimage was made to it until the sixth century. It is evident, therefore, that all its holy places must be somewhat apocryphal.

And this brings me to the hill itself, and the prospect from it. We arrived on the brow of this hill (which is about 400 feet high, and is crowned with a Mahommedan tomb with its usual whitened dome) on our first approach to Nazareth, and before descending to the town. our guides pointed out in various directions the places of interest which were visible from it. But this was rather a cursory view of what could be at once perceived to be one of the most remarkable spots in Palestine; and we were obliged by the hour of the day to descend before long to our camping-ground on the further side of the town. I therefore registered a mental determination that I would make further and more intimate acquaintance with it before leaving Nazareth. There would happily be opportunity for doing this, as it was now Saturday afternoon, and we were to remain here till Monday. On Sunday morning I attended the Syrian Church in Nazareth, where the English Church service was conducted in Arabic. Besides a number of adults present at the service, there was a considerable party of girls, neatly dressed, belonging to Miss Dickson's British Syrian school, the building occupied by which is situated on the hillside behind the town, and is by far the most imposing structure in Nazareth. It was a lovely day, and in the afternoon some of our party arranged an excursion to the summit of Mount Tabor, and mounting their horses directly after lunch, they returned soon after dusk. But for several reasons I preferred remaining at Nazareth, particularly as I had learned that the view from Mount Tabor was not superior to that from the hill over Nazareth.

When, therefore, they were gone, I took my Bible and my Murray and mounted the steep side of the hill by myself; and seated beneath an umbrella, with which I had taken care to provide myself, I pre