urch of England as far as practicable, and sometimes
had a visitor to join us in the same, not omitting the hymn singing.

The two domestic servants were of different Christian communities; for
the woman was a Latin, and would sometimes repair to her church-service
at Bethlehem, and the Abyssinian lad might be heard morning and evening,
or at night in the moonlight--such moonlight as we had there!--reading
the Gospels and Psalms in his soft native language, or even singing to a
kirar (or lute) of his own making, hymns with a chorus of "Alleluia,
Amen."

Another of our gratifications should not be omitted, namely, the hearing
of the large church bell of the Latins in Bethlehem on certain occasions,
and always on Sunday mornings; at the moment of the sun peering over the
eastern horizon that great bell struck, and was followed by a gush of the
sweetest irregular music from smaller bells, probably belonging to the
Greeks, and then by the nakoos (plank) of the Armenians, a relic of their
primitive customs, serving for a bell, {440}--all these acting with one
consent and with one intention, that of celebrating "the Lord's day," as
the early Christians delighted to call the first day of the week.

From our window we had the city of David and of David's Lord before us,
and over the window on the inside I had inscribed in large Arabic
inscription-characters, "O Son of David, have mercy upon us!" we had
therefore the writing and the town at the same glance of view.

We were not without visitors: sometimes a friend or two or three would
arrive from Jerusalem--travellers along the road would mount the hill to
see us--rabbis of Hebron on the way to Jerusalem, or Jews from the
distance of Tiberias passing to Hebron, would turn aside to pay their
respects--Arab chiefs, such as Ismaeen Hhamdan of the Ta'amra--Turkish
officers, or even the Pasha himself, found the way to the cottage--also
officers of the British navy, when visiting the sacred localities from
Jaffa. Among these I would not forget the chaplain of one of our
men-of-war, who brought up ten of his best men, namely, the Bible and
temperance class under his charge, to see the venerated places,
Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the Mount of Olives. On one occasion we had a
surveying party with their instruments from H.M.S. _Firefly_, who passed
some nights with us.

On the higher boundary the land was still in its natural condition of
stones, fossil shells, and green shrubs with