MY DEAR HARRY:

XVI.

HASBEIYA, June 10, 18

In the middle of May we bade good-bye to the Holy City. I was sorry to part with the friends who had been so very kind to us, and I was sorry to leave Jerusalem. It is not a pleasant city. In truth, it is rather gloomy. I don't like its narrow, dirty streets, its confined air, and, more than all, I dislike the Moslems being masters there. I don't think it would be in agreeable place to live in, but then there is so much that makes one feel as if it was not such a hard matter to be good there as it is every where else; it seems, too, as if the hills all loved our Saviour's memory, and held it in reverence, and as if the stones were ready to tell beautiful things about Christ. I cannot describe my feelings; but I would like to stay there a year, and visit all its interesting places again and again.

As far as the Sea of Galilee, we passed over very nearly the same route that we did before, so I will not describe the places to you again.

The scenes were somewhat different though, for we found the whole country beautiful with flowers, busy with harvesters, and alive with great flocks of sheep.

I have said nothing to you yet about sheep and shepherds. I have seen them occasionally during the winter watching their flocks, but not in the numbers I saw in my last journey to Galilee. These shepherds are the real, oldfashioned, picturesque-looking ones, always carrying the shepherd's crook-a long stick bent into a hook at one end. They seem to look upon their sheep and lambs as so many children to be cared for. by night or by day.

They never leave them During the day they lead

them from place to place, wherever they may

find the best pasture.

At night they sleep The shepherd always follow him.

They

surrounded by the flock. goes before; the sheep know the voice of their own shepherd, and, if he calls to them, they instantly obey him; but they will not obey the voice of a stranger. We tried them often, but they always knew the voice of their own shepherd, and would run away from a strange voice. Some sheep always keep near the shepherd; these are his favorites, and each has a name to which it answers when called. But in a large flock many go rambling off, and then the shepherd speaks to them

sharply and scolds them; sometimes a straggler gets lost, and then the wild beasts seize it. If a lamb gets sick or tired, the shepherd will carry it in his bosom, or lead it gently along.

These shepherds had dogs to help them keep the flock from straying, and, I am sorry to say, they were very mean-looking ones. The sheepfolds are called marahs. They are low, flat buildings, with large yards, which are enclosed by stone walls. Sharp thorns are planted on these to keep wild beasts from climbing over them, but the leopard and panther sometimes leap over the walls, and then the shepherd has a tough battle before him.

Don't all these things remind you of the Bible accounts of sheep and shepherds? They have remained unchanged for three thousand years.

We stopped one day at our old camp-ground at Tiberias, had some fine fishing, and then started for Lake Merom, or the Huleh. This lake is the source of the Jordan. We wished to follow the river from the Sea of Galilee, but found this was impossible, from the nature of the country. The roads we travelled were very bad.

We encamped at Safed, and looked about us a little. This town was entirely destroyed by an earthquake in 1837, so that all the houses

are new. It seemed like a thriving place, more so than most of the towns in this region. There are about five thousand inhabitants, most of them Jews. This is one of their holy cities. It is on a high hill, or mountain it might be called, and the highest point of this is the real attraction of Safed. There is part of a castle there built by the crusaders. The earthquake nearly destroyed it. The castle is not of much consequence; the view is very extensive. You can see the plains and Sea of Galilee, and a long stretch of sea-coast in the distance. You can see Gilead, Bashan, Samaria, and Carmel, and the long range of the Lebanon Mountains, with the high, snowy head of Hermon. crusaders had good taste to build a castle here, but I suspect the height and safety of the place were more in their mind than beautiful views. A great many years ago there was at Safed a Jewish school, which was very famous and produced a great many learned men. There was a printing press there, and many books were printed. It seems wonderful that such things should ever have been there. A fair is held at Safed every Friday, but we were not there on that day. Its olive orchards and vineyards were very luxuriant.

The

We encamped for two days near the Huleh,

and rode about the country, and up the hills, and wandered among the marshes wherever it was possible to go. Taking one of the high hills near the lake for a stand-point, we got a pretty good idea of this part of Northern Palestine. As for you, you will have to trace it all out on the map.

You will see that the river Hasbany rises in the Mountains of Lebanon, near the foot of Hermon, in the great fountain of Finarr. It flows in a southerly direction to the marshes of the Huleh, where the Leddan and Baniasy flow into it. These three rivers united form the Jordan, which may therefore be said to rise in the Huleh, though the source of the Hasbany and of the Baniasy have both been called the source of the Jordan. Of these rivers, we are told that the Hasbany is the longest, the Leddan the widest, and the Baniasy the most beautiful. The Jordan empties into Lake Huleh, but before reaching the lake, many smaller streams flow into it. On leaving Lake Huleh, the river flows southwardly to the Sea of Galilee. We could trace it nearly all the way, or at least the valley through which it flows, with the eye. [After leaving the Sea of Galilee, you know, it is a larger and more important river, and flows still in a southerly direction,