presence, is fulness of joy. Thou shalt show me the path, the presence, is fulness of joy. Thou shalt show me the A VISIT TO JACOB'S WELL. NEAR to the southern extremity of the valley in which Nabulus lies, and distant from the town about half-an-hour, is a well, which bears undeniable marks of antiquity, and is regarded as Jacob's Well, beside which our Saviour rested, and held the discourse with the woman of Samaria which the 4th chapter of St. John records. A very interesting account of this well has been given by Dr. Wilson, in his “Lands of the Bible." His party visited it from Nabulus (the Sychar of the New Testament), under the guidance of a Samaritan lad named Jacob; and as they were determined to effect a thorough exploration of it, they took with them a supply of wax candles for its illumination, and all the cords from their boxes, that a correct measurement might be made. The account proceeds thus : "On arriving at Jacob's Well, we found the mouth of it, which is in the middle of the ruins of a church, by which it was formerly surrounded, covered by two large stones. These we were unable ourselves to remove; but half-a-dozen sturdy Arabs, from a small hamlet close by, did the needful for us, in expectation, of course, of a due reward. The opening over the well is an orifice in a dome or arch, less than two feet in diameter. Our Samaritan friend was the first to enter. He held by a piece of rope, which we kept in our hands, till, swinging himself across the mouth of the well, properly so called, he found footing on the margin of the excavation over which the dome extends. Mr. Smith and myself, dispensing with the superfluous parts of our dresses, followed his example. The Jews, Mordecai and Dhanjibhai, whom we thought it expedient to leave without, kept fast hold of the rope, till, with the assistance of Jacob, we got a firm footing beside him. The Arabs entered, one after another, without difficulty. All within was hitherto darkness; but, by the aid of a packet of lucifers, we lighted our candles, and were able to look down the well to a considerable depth. It was now time to disclose our plan of operations to our native attendants. 'Jacob,' said we, 'a friend of ours, an English traveller and a minister, dropped the five books of Moses, and the other inspired records, into this well,* and if you will descend and bring them up, we will give you a handsome bakshish' (present). 'Bakshish,' said the Arabs, kindling at the sound, if there is to be a bakshish in the case, we must have it, for we are the lords of the land.' 'Well, down you go,' said we, throwing the rope over their shoulders, and you shall have the bakshish.' 'Nay, verily,' say they, 'you mean to hang us; let Jacob do what he pleases.' Jacob was ready at our command; and when he had *This was founded on the fact that the Rev. A. Bonar had lost his bible in the well. tied the rope round his body, below his shoulders, he received our parting instructions. We asked him to call out to us the moment he should arrive at the surface of the water, and told him we should so hold the rope as to prevent him from sinking, if there was any considerable depth of the element. We told him to pull out one of the candles with which we had stored his breast, and to ignite it when he might get below. As he looked into the fearful pit, upon the brink of which he stood, terror took hold on him; and he betook himself to prayer in the Hebrew tongue. We, of course, gave him no interruption in his solemn exercises, as, in the circumstances of the case, we could not but admire the spirit of devotion which he evinced. On a signal given, we let him go. The Arabs held with us the rope, and we took care that he should descend as gently as possible. When our material was nearly exhausted he called out, 'I have reached the bottom, and it is at present scarcely covered with water.' Forthwith he kindled his light, and that he might have every advantage, we threw him down a quantity of dry sticks, with which he made a blaze, which distinctly showed us the whole of the well from the top to the bottom. We saw the end of the rope at its lower part, and we put a knot upon it at the margin above, that we might have the exact measurement when Jacob might come up. After searching some five minutes for the bible among the stones and mud at the bottom, our kind friend joyfully called out, 'It is found! it is found! it is found!' We were not slow, it may be supposed, in giving him our congratulations. The prize he carefully put into his breast, and then he declared his readiness, with our aid, to make the ascent. Ready he was not, however, to move. He was evidently much frightened at the journey which lay before him to the light of day; and he was not slow to confess his fears. 'Never mind,' said Mordecai to him from the top, 'you will get up by the help of the God of Jacob.' He betook himself again to prayer, in which he continued a much longer time than before his descent. When we got him in motion he dangled very uncomfortably in the air, and complained much of the cutting of the rope near his arm-pits. By-and-by he became silent. We found it no easy matter to get him pulled up, as we had to keep the rope from the edge of the well, lest it should snap asunder. When he came into our hands he was unable to speak, and we laid him down on the margin of the well, that he might collect his breath. 'Where is the bakshish?' were the first words he uttered on regaining the faculty of speech. It was immediately forthcoming, to the extent of about a sovereign, and to his fullest satisfaction. A similar sum we divided among our Arab assistants. The book, from having been so long steeped in the water and mud below, was, with the exception of the boards, reduced to a mass of pulp. In our effort to recover it, we had ascertained the depth of the well, which is exactly seventy-five feet. Its diameter is about nine feet. It is entirely hewn out of the solid rock, and is a work |