whirling dervishes. If I don't meet with them in this country we will find them in Constantinople, if we return that way. You have heard of them. Their form of worship is

whirling about. They say they are inspired by God to do this, and they keep whirling until the inspiration passes off. Those who have seen them say the performance is slow and rather graceful at first, but they whirl faster and faster until they get quite frantic; their faces have a "rapt" expression, and their minds seem entirely withdrawn from earthly things. This may be because of the muddled condition their brains must be in after such a spinning round. The whole thing reminds one of that play the girls have that they call "making cheeses.”

To-morrow we are going up the mountain to visit the place where Lady Hester Stanhope lived so many years.

Your affectionate friend,

PHILIP.

MY DEAR HARRY:

IV.

SIDON, Dec. 5, 18—.

I should not have written to you from Sidon again, had I not promised to give you an account of our visit to the house which formerly belonged to Lady Hester Stanhope.

Quite a large party had been made up to go with us all Franks-most of them English. Among them were four ladies. We rode out of the gate of Sidon at sunrise, but, early as it was, there were a great many loungers there, and I flattered myself we made quite a distinguished appearance as we cantered over the plain. Hartley and I had seen so many different styles of dress since we came to this country that we were tired of our commonplace American style, and concluded we would "flourish out" on this occasion. So we each wore an aba, which is a cloak worn by all classes of Arabs, made of various materials. Our's were quite short; they were made of dark brown silk, ornamented with gold and silver thread, and were what Caroline would call

very dashy." We wore We wore red caps trimmed with gold cord. Father thought we bought these as curiosities to take home with us, and was quite surprised when we made our appearance with our red caps, and gold trimmings sparkling in the sunlight. The whole party laughed at our Oriental appearance, which was all the compliment we received, and I can't say that we found the change in our attire altogether comfortable; but we knew we looked well, which is a great matter.

We rode at a brisk pace, and were not long in reaching the Oweley. If you look at the map you will see that the little village of Joon is but a short distance from the river. It is situated on a mountain side, and on the very top of the mountain is Dahr Joon, where the Lady Hester lived.

Riding over the high hills and up the mountain side would have been very grand, if it had not been so very frightful. I don't think, Harry, that I am a very great coward, and I confess that I turned pale more than once as my little pony walked gingerly along the edge of a precipice, or down a steep and rocky path into a deep ravine. Father looked a little anxious about me, but was quite relieved when he saw how very cautious I was. He told me I must accustom myself to face such dangers if

I would become a traveller, and that when I travelled over the Lebanon mountains I would meet with worse roads than that which leads to Dahr Joon. By that time I shall have become accustomed to bad roads, but I never rode close to the edge of precipices until that day. The ladies, I noticed, were quite fearless-they are used to these barbarous roads. My little Saladin was very sure-footed, and trod along these narrow rocky paths as if he had been used to them all his days, as it is very probable that he has been.

The road was desolate and solitary, generally winding over barren hills or down into narrow stony valleys. These valleys are here called wadies. A few goats were wandering about, attended by their keepers, and occasionally we would come across a little cluster of Arab tents. Once I caught sight of a village in the distance, with olive orchards near it. I was surprised at this sight and pointed it out to a lady, and she told me that there were villages, cornfields and orchards in plenty among these stony valleys and barren-looking mountains.

Once, on making a sudden turn in the road, we came upon a very queer sight. It was so unexpected, and I was so unprepared for it, having never heard of such a thing, that I

burst out laughing. Hartley joined me, which was very impolite of us, as the objects we were laughing at were ladies. They were mounted on mules, and looked like a company of ghosts with their long white dresses and thick veils. And, to give them a still more unearthly appearance, each one had a long horn growing out of her head? That is, they seemed to grow out of their heads, but they were really made of silver, and fastened on to the head somehow. Over these they hang their veils. These horns were about two feet long, and you may imagine the effect. These were grand ladies-they were Druse ladies of very high rank-ladies of lower rank wear smaller horns. I think these women must have very empty heads or they never could bear the weight of such horns.

The road grew worse as we went up the mountain, and at last we dismounted from our horses and climbed up a steep narrow path for two hundred feet. The house stands at the very top of the mountain. It looks like a great castle, with turrets and towers, and a high wall all around it. Nobody lives in it, and it is falling into ruin. The gardens, which were once very splendid, are filled with weeds and rub-. bish. The tomb is in the garden. We found our way to it with some difficulty.

The vault