CHASING THE ENEMY.

185

when a volley of stones from the urchins proved that they had spied me alone in the distance, and had armed themselves in the village where they had planned the attack. My horse was manageable; and, bending my head, my enemy had the pleasure of a race. Soon all stones were dropped; and, though they were exceedingly active, I had nearly succeeded in serving two or three as Gideon did the inhabitants of Succoth, by "teaching" them with my thorn stick. But by this time I was under the village; and the uproar from the "old folks" was like that from a nest of hornets,—one man appearing quite in earnest about trying his gun, which would probably have done him more damage than myself. Turning my horse, I was soon up with my companions, who were about a mile in advance. It often happens that the inhabitants exhibit a delight in annoying travellers, though they have not always courage to carry matters to extremes. The country between this long and level plain of Mukhna (the modern name of the plain of SHECHEM), running north and south, and the place of our night's rest, does not vary much in appearance from what we had previously passed.

SHILOH is so completely a confused and shapeless mass of ruins that little more can be said of the place than that it is ground to pieces amid rubbish and dust. Even in the times of Jerome "scarcely the foundations of an altar were to be pointed out." Yet the former state and sanctity of this place made it one of the most noted in the early times of Israel, before "the Lord forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh" and "chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion, which he loved" (Ps. lxxviii. 60, 68; Jer. vii. 12). There are interesting excavations in a valley to the east and near Ain Seilun. Shiloh is on the east end of a ridge running east and west. There is a pass or break in the ridge, from which some interesting specimens of fossils may be obtained, as at Samaria. We rode up this pass on to the ridge near the Ain Khan Lubban.

At the Khan of Laaban-as the Arabs pronounced it—

186

ARCHED RUINS UNDER GROUND.

we met some girls near an ain or spring, richly dressed, with sashes around their waists. One declared that her own cost more than seven hundred piastres,-which one of our guides thought to be true. They were filling their leather bottles for the village. The sash was of silk and gold lace richly woven in, and of a kind which costs sometimes about eight pounds. The "loins of the natives are girded" in almost all cases with some belt or sash; and when a race is expected their girdles are drawn tightly up, increasing the agility of the runner in the abdominal support thus afforded him. It is used also as a pocket for small objects, as the folds of the garment on the bosom are used for carrying large articles. I have seen some with nearly a half-bushel of corn or some other material stowed away in the bosom,-which is probably the custom to which reference is made in Luke vi. 38. Sinjil on our right appears like a ruined tower; and beyond it was Jiljilia, one of the GILGALS of Scripture.

We pass on to a large stone ruin with a heavy arched room under ground, appearing much like a massive dungeon, forty or fifty feet in length, and once plastered. The name, like that of the spring near it, is pronounced Ain Haroumiyeh. Descending, we enter a valley containing a large amount of bare stones, some of them ribbed, as if waterworn; and soon a village-Ain Yebrud, pronounced Yabrud-appears on a hill on the right, and on the left is Et Taiyibeh, supposed to be OPHRA (also more lately the city EPHRAIM, of John ii. 54). It is singular how many villages and ruins are found on hills, many of which are in sight or not far off. Ain Yebrud and Ophra, the one west of us, the latter east, then Rummon (the ancient RIMMON) on the south-east, and some rubbish or ruins north of us on Tell Azur, probably one of the HAZORS of Scripture, all near us, and several more beyond us, each built on a hill. Formerly, these were called Ramahs, hills, and Gibeahs, or heads and tops of hills: hence the numerous Ramahs of Scripture and the difficulty in locating them.

One of our guides informs us that we shall find better accommodations at Ain Yebrud than at Bireh; but we choose the latter. Late in the evening, BETHEL and its ruins are on our left. Very little remains among those ruins worthy of mention. Piles of stones, a remnant of a small tenement, and one long building with a short square elevation on the end, are all that we noticed, except an indistinct mass on a hill far off, which probably is a ruined tower, and hence its name, Burj Beitin, "Tower of Bethel." The guide said it belonged to Bethel; "for," says he, "it was a great city." Sunset sheds a beautiful tint on the clouds, and everything looks mournfully desolate. Not far off is a cave hewn out of the rock and capable of accommodating eighteen or twenty persons. The voice of a screechowl resounds over the hills with a singular echo. How God has silenced the iniquity of the past! for here the bold idolatry of the calf was encouraged in the times of Jeroboam, and much did Israel suffer from the sins which originated here.

The accommodations in Bireh (Beer or Beeroth of Benjamin) are poor. I rode up alone, having been wandering among the ruins till dark, and then passed into the khan, when, lo! it was found to be a veritable stable. The air was cool outside (forty-eight degrees at five o'clock), but in this khan quite warm, especially as we are mounted over the animals in a kind of second storey, through the floor of which we can see all below. Not far from us was a Turkish traveller, wife and family, travelling with several pets, besides his children, not even having left behind a cat, which seemed to be the pet of a little girl, and through which as an introduction to the child I gained some acquaintance with the father. They occupy one corner, and my friends and self another. We are here in very uncomfortably close quarters; but after supper our beds are made, and we give our Turkish friend a plain hint that his scrutiny of our preparations for rest will reveal to him the fact that we sleep with our "valuables" under our pillow, and have besides

one gun,our formidable spy-glass, drawn out at full length not far off, being the most like a pistol of anything we carry but probably it saved us from being robbed north of Tiberias. Notwithstanding these and many inconveniences not mentioned, we are happy and grateful for any comfort attended with so much health.

CHAPTER XV.

FROM BIREH TO JERUSALEM.

THE morning on which we left Bireh was cool, the thermometer standing at 43° at sunrise. We feel deeply grateful for unusual health, and for the cheerful prospect we have before us to-day. It is a most exciting thought to me, who for years have had but a feeble hope before me, to think I shall to-day enjoy the reality and stand within the walls of Jerusalem. We start at twenty minutes before seven o'clock, and travel rapidly over a stony road. At twenty-five minutes before eight o'clock we passed on our left, about half a mile off, Er Ram (Ramah, or, as some call it, Ram a heva), on a flat-topped hill, with the tops of two trees seen above a few walls and stones, and some singular and extensive arches and ruins called Khan er Ram, stretching along for several hundred yards. A pretty terraced and cultivated hill appears in front, called Tell el Ful and Tuleil el Ful (the hill of the bean). It is supposed to be the GIBEAH of Saul. We pass to the light hoping to see Jerusalem; but it is not yet visible. Between Er Ram and Neby Samwil, we rode over a plain containing singular pits; and, while noting some names, my horse, which was so sure-footed on the hills, trotted into a hole in the plain. The consequence was I went over his head; but so soft was the soil that I experienced no injury whatever. But my horse soon showed a lameness, which rendered him useless to me after reaching Jerusalem.

At twenty minutes after eight o'clock we get a glimpse of the Jordan. The waters seem blue against a back