lain enclosed by hills; and there it must have been that
the manipulus with S.P.Q.R. was posted in front of Italian tents, and the
soldiers bustling about or jesting in Latin or British language, before
their retiring to rest, in the spring season of the year A.D. 70.

Becoming entangled among a long belt of vineyards between us and it, and
time passing away while our luggage was far on the road to Nabloos, we
turned aside and regained the high-road at _'Ain Yebrood_. Reluctantly I
retreated from _Jifna_, for I had wished to discover the precise road
upon which Titus and his army marched towards Jerusalem. Passing
_Sinjil_, _Lubban_, and _Sawiyeh_, we rested just beyond _Sawiyeh_ under
the great oak, at the divergence of the valley of _Laithma_. Beneath its
wide-spreading branches a flock of sheep was resting at noon (Cant. i.
7.) From these we got good draughts of fresh milk.

As evening approached, we were passing within the huge shadow of Mount
Gerizim; and in Nabloos I remained till Monday morning,--this being the
end of Thursday.

28_th_. Preparing for descent into the Jordan valley, I engaged, in
addition to the usual servants, a horseman of the Bashi Bozuk,
recommended by the local governor, Suliman Bek Tokan. It seemed prudent
to obtain this man's attendance, as he might be known and recognised by
disorderly persons throughout the turbulent and unknown country before
me, whatever might be his character for valour or discretion. Two of the
native Protestants of Nabloos accompanied me also for about four hours on
the way.

Passing Joseph's sepulchre and the village of _Asker_, (is not this
Sychar? it is near the traditional Jacob's Well,) we went northwards over
the plain of _Mukhneh_, equivalent to Makhaneh, "camp," in Hebrew, (the
_Moreh_ of Gen. xii. 6, Deut. xi. 30, and Judges vii. 1) having left the
eastern valley with _Salem_ (Gen. xxxiii. 18) on our right. To my
surprise the plain was soon and abruptly terminated at the foot of a very
lofty mountain, and we commenced a descent among chasms of great
convulsions of nature, displaying remarkable contortions of geological
strata. This brought us into the Wadi _En-Nab_, so called from the
growth there of a fruit-tree, (the Jujube,) bearing that name, better in
quality than anywhere else in Palestine; and, indeed, the tree is found
in but few other places. At the confluence of this valley with the Wadi
_Bedan_ there are several fragments of ancient c