Given by command, in the private office of the Father,

FRANCIS A SOLERIO,

Perpetual Secretary of the Holy Land.

Which, being interpreted, is as follows:

Brother Francis Xavier, of Malta, of the order of monks of the regular rule of our Father Saint Francis; theological reader of the order of Malta; expounder, missionary of the Sacred Congregation for propagating the faith; Prefect of the Missions of Egypt and Cyprus; apostolical commissary in the Eastern world; guardian of the holy Mount Zion and of the most Holy Sepulchre of our Lord Jesus Christ; keeper and visiter of all the Holy Land, and humble servant in the Lord :

To the most illustrious Lord **** * ******** an American, we give this present testimonial; and to all and every one who shall read or inspect these our present letters, we do make known and certify that this celebrated and most illustrious lord has come through Jerusalem, and has visited all the principal places which are accustomed to be visited in all Palestine, especially the most Holy Sepulchre of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Mount of Calvary, the Convent at Bethlehem, &c.; and that it is so we subscribe this attestation with our hand, and cause it to be put forth fortified by the great seal of our office.

Given at Jerusalem, from this venerable convent of the Holy Saviour, on the third day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.

Brother Francis Xavier, of Malta, Guardian of the Holy Land.

THE TOMB OF SAMUEL.

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Whereby the reader will see, that whatever may be his fate hereafter, a pilgrimage to the holy city gives a man temporal honours, and has transformed a republican citizen of America into an "illustrissimus dominus."

With this evidence of my pilgrim character, I mounted my horse for the last time at the door of the convent. I lost my way in going to the Damascus Gate, but a friendly Jew conducted me to it; a Jew was the first to welcome me to the Holy Land, and a Jew was the last to speed me on my way from the holy city of Jerusalem. Paul was waiting for me; and for half a mile we passed mounds of ruins, the walls of the old city having extended some distance beyond the Damascus Gate. In about three quarters of an hour, a little to the right, we came to what are called the Tombs of the Judges, excavations in the rock, one of them full of water. I have no satisfaction in the recollection of these tombs, for there I lost my old companion, the terror of evil dogs, my Nubian club; which, since I bought it in Nubia, had seldom been out of my hand. In about three hours we were mounting Djebel Samyel, the highest mountain about Jerusalem, crowned with the ruins of Ramah, the birthplace and tomb of Samuel the seer. A few Arab huts are around the ruins; and a ruined mosque, the minaret of which has fallen, is the most prominent building on the mountain. We entered the mosque; at the farther end was a door locked, but with the key in it. I turned the key and entered a dark chamber. By the light from the door I could see at the far end a dark, sombre-looking object, and groped my way to the tomb of Samuel; I kept my hands on it, and walked around it; and, hearing some of the villagers at the door, I tore off a piece of the pall, as I had done from the tomb of Aaron, and hurried out. I stopped for a moment on the top of the mountain, and, looking back towards the holy city, saw for the last time the Mosque of Omar, rising proudly over the ruins of the Tem

ple of Solomon, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the walls of Jerusalem, and the Dead Sea. My first view of this latter had been from the tomb of Aaron; and I considered it a not uninteresting coincidence that I was now looking upon it for the last time from the tomb of Samuel.

In about an hour, riding over a rough road, we came to the village of Beer, supposed to be the Beer to which Jotham fled “for fear of his brother Abimelech." A ruined khan was at the entrance of the village, and near it a large fountain, at which the women were washing. About an hour beyond this, to the right, on a little elevation, are the ruins of Beteel, the ancient Bethel. It was here that the bears came out and tore in pieces the children that mocked the bald-headed prophet Elisha, and it was here that Jacob took "the stones of the place for his pillow, and dreamed, and beheld a ladder reaching to heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending thereon." Though surrounded by stony mountains, it was prettily situated; I rode among the ruins without dismounting. The place was solitary and deserted, and not a human being appeared to dwell in it. At one end were the ruins of a church, and near it was a large fountain in a stone reservoir; a single cow was drinking at the fountain, and at the moment a boy was driving past a flock of goats to his village home in the mountains. He was a Christian, and called me Christian and hadji or pilgrim, and gave me a wild flower which he plucked from under my horse's feet. It was a beautiful afternoon, and all was so still and quiet that I felt strongly tempted to lie down and sleep where Jacob did; but I had given away my tent and camp equipage, and I reflected that while I was sure of the patriarch's pillow of stone, I had but little prospect of being blessed with the promise that softened it, "that the land on which he lay should be given to him and his seed, and that in him all the families of the earth should be blessed."

VILLAGE OF EINBROOT.

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In about an hour we came to the village of Einbroot, prettily situated on an eminence, and commanding on all sides a view of fertile and well-cultivated valleys. We were looking for Einbroot, and as the village to which we had come lay a little off the road, we were not sure it was the place we wanted. A woman told us it was not, a man assured us that the sheik was not at home, and there seemed clearly a disposition to send us on farther; and this determined us to stop. We rode up to the village and inquired for the sheik; the villagers gave us evasive answers, one saying that he was away, and another that he was sick; but a little boy, pointing with his finger, told us that he was there, praying; and, looking up, we saw him on the top of .he house, on his knees, praying with all his might, and occasionally looking over his shoulder at us. By his not coming to welcome me, I saw that he did not wish me to stay; and, after my scenes with the Bedouins in the desert, having a comparative contempt for dwellers in houses, I dismounted and sat down, determined to see who would get tired first. In the mean time the villagers gathered around, as spectators of our contest, and the sheik, as if ashamed of himself, at length finished his prayers and came down to receive me. He told me that he had no place for us, and showed me to a large room, fifty or sixty feet square, which seemed to be the common resort and sleeping-place of all who had no particular home. After the comforts of the convent at Jerusalem, I did not like the looks of things in the beginning of my journey; but, consoling myself with the reflection that it was only for one night, I spread my mat in a corner, and had just time to stroll around the village before dark.

The houses were built of rough stone, a single story in height, with mud roofs, many of them overgrown with grass, and now presenting, towards sundown, the singularly picturesque spectacle, which I had often noticed in Syria, of the

inhabitants sitting out upon the terraces and roofs of their houses, or, perhaps, the still more striking picture of a single old white-bearded, patriarchal figure sitting alone upon his housetop. One of these venerable personages called me up to his side; and I was well rewarded for my trouble, and could fully appreciate the satisfaction with which the old man, day after day, looked out upon the beautiful and well-cultivated valley, the terraces, and the smiling villages on the mountain side.

Several of the villagers were following us, and among them a fine old man, the brother of the sheik, and formerly sheik himself. He told me that, since the stormy times of Mohammed Aly, he had resigned the sheikdom, and comforted himself for the loss of station in the arms of a young wife; and before we parted we were on such good terms that he told me the reason of their unwillingness to receive us; namely, that they thought we were officers of Mohammed Aly, sent to spy out their condition, and ascertain the number of their men able to bear arms; but, satisfied that we were merely travellers, and warmed by my honest disclaimer of the imputed character, he invited me to his house, and both he, and the sheik, and all the villagers seemed striving now to atone for the churlishness of their first reception.

The old man was as kind as a man could be; in fact, his kindness oppressed me; for, having but one room in his house, he sent both his wives out of doors to sleep at a neighbour's. In vain I told him not to disarrange himself on my account; to make no stranger of me; to let them stay; and that it was nothing to me if the whole harem of the sultan was there; he was positive and decided. I catechised him about his wives, and he said that he had been a poor man all his life, and could never afford to keep more than one till lately; and now the companion of his youth and the sharer of his poverty was thrust away into a corner,