from the "wells
of Moses," on the Arabian coast, or else carried on camels, after
an hour's journey, from the fortified brackish of Bir Suweis. In
spite of its favorable position for commerce, the place was quite
small prior to the time of the canal, and even to-day the canal
carries traffic past Suez rather than to it. The picture shows
the post-office square.]

[Illustration: IN CENTRAL AFRICA.--No country in the world creates
more interest among the civilized nations than does Africa. In the
far interior, where African explorers have failed to find traces
of the outer world, every variety of savage humanity exists. These
uncivilized people, who know nothing of the progress of nations,
live in tribes, preying upon each other's settlements, whenever
opportunity presents itself. The above picture represents the typical
natives of the Dark Continent.]

[Illustration: YAFFA OR JAFFA, PALESTINE.--Jaffa is a small town
lying on the coast of the Mediterranean, at the foot of a rock
one hundred and sixteen feet in height. This town is very ancient,
and a road runs directly from it to Jerusalem. The houses are built
of tuff-stone, and the streets are generally very narrow and dirty,
and, after the slightest rain, exceedingly muddy. The town walls are
falling to decay, and the interior of the town is uninteresting.
Tradition points out the place as the one in which Napoleon is
said to have caused plague-patients to be poisoned, and in which
St. Peter once fished; but the authenticity of it seems to proceed
from a confusion of ideas.]

[Illustration: JERUSALEM, PALESTINE.--Here is a place of overwhelming
interest, but at first sight sadly disappointing. Little is seen
of the ancient City of Zion and Moriah, the far-famed capital of
the Jewish Empire, in the narrow, crooked and ill-paved streets of
the modern town. The combination of wild superstitions, with the
merest formalism which is everywhere observed, and the fanaticism
and jealous exclusiveness of the numerous religious communities of
Jerusalem, form the chief modern characteristics of that memorable
city which was once the fountain-head from which the knowledge of
the true God was wont to be vouchsafed to mankind, and which has
exercised the greatest influence on religious thought throughout
the world.]

[Illustration: WAILING-PLACE OF THE JEWS, JERUSALEM, PALESTINE.--Outside
of the enclosure of Mosque El Aksa, at Jerusalem, is the noted
wailing-place of the Jews