hem. When assembled for the march, it
was found that the number, of which a very exact census was taken, was
forty-nine thousand six hundred and ninety-seven.

They had also with them seven or eight hundred horses, about two
hundred and fifty mules, and about five hundred camels. The chief
part, however, of their baggage and stores was borne by asses, of
which there were nearly seven thousand in the train. The march of
this peaceful multitude of families--men, women, and children
together--burdened as they went, not with arms and ammunition for
conquest and destruction, but with tools and implements for honest
industry, and stores of provisions and utensils for the peaceful
purposes of social life, as it was, in its bearings and results, one
of the grandest events of history, so it must have presented, in its
progress, one of the most extraordinary spectacles that the world has
ever seen.

The grand caravan pursued its long and toilsome march from Babylon
to Jerusalem without molestation. All arrived safely, and the people
immediately commenced the work of repairing the walls of the city and
rebuilding the Temple. When, at length, the foundations of the Temple
were laid, a great celebration was held to commemorate the event. This
celebration exhibited a remarkable scene of mingled rejoicing and
mourning. The younger part of the population, who had never seen
Jerusalem in its former grandeur, felt only exhilaration and joy at
their re-establishment in the city of their fathers. The work of
raising the edifice, whose foundations they had laid, was to them
simply a new enterprise, and they looked forward to the work of
carrying it on with pride and pleasure. The old men, however, who
remembered the former Temple, were filled with mournful recollections
of days of prosperity and peace in their childhood and of the
magnificence of the former Temple, which they could now never hope to
see realized again. It was customary in those days, to express sorrow
and grief by exclamations and outcries, as gladness and joy are
expressed audibly now. Accordingly, on this occasion, the cries of
grief and of bitter regret at the thought of losses which could now
never be retrieved, were mingled with the shouts of rejoicing and
triumph raised by the ardent and young, who knew nothing of the past,
but looked forward with hope and happiness to the future.

The Jews encountered various hinderances, and met with much opposition
in their att