y strengthen and console me
wherever I may be and whatever I may be called upon to endure.

FROM JERUSALEM TO BEYROUT.

My gentleman-protectors wished to journey from Jerusalem to Beyrout
by land, and intended taking a circuitous route, by way of Nazareth,
Galilee, Canaan, etc., in order to visit as many of these places as
possible, which are fraught with such interest to us Christians.
They were once more kind enough to admit me into their party, and
the 11th of June was fixed for our departure.

June 11th.

Quitting Jerusalem at three o'clock in the afternoon, we emerged
from the Damascus Gate, and entered a large elevated plateau.
Though this region is essentially a stony one, I saw several
stubble-fields, and even a few scanty blades of grass.

The view is very extended; at a distance of four miles the walls of
Jerusalem were still in view, till at length the road curved round a
hill, and the Holy City was for ever hidden from our sight.

On the left of the road, an old church, said to have been erected in
the days of Samuel, stands upon a hill.

At six in the evening we reached the little village of Bir, and
fixed our halting-place for the night in a neighbouring stubble-
field. During my first journey by land (I mean my ride from Joppa
to Jerusalem), I had already had a slight foretaste of what is to be
endured by the traveller in these regions. Whoever is not very
hardy and courageous, and insensible to hunger, thirst, heat, and
cold; whoever cannot sleep on the hard ground, or even on stones,
passing the cold nights under the open sky, should not pursue his
journey farther than from Joppa to Jerusalem: for, as we proceed,
the fatigues become greater and less endurable, and the roads are
more formidable to encounter; besides this, the food is so bad that
we only eat from fear of starvation; and the only water we can get
to drink is lukewarm, and offensive from the leathern jars in which
it is kept.

We usually rode for six or seven hours at a time without alighting
even for a moment, though the thermometer frequently stood at from
30 to 34 degrees Reaumur. Afterwards we rested for an hour at the
most; and this halt was often made in the open plain, where not a
tree was in sight. Refreshment was out of the question, either for
the riders or the poor beasts, and frequently we had not even water
to quench our burning thirst. The horses were compelled to labour
unceasingly from sunrise until evening,