o opposed to the accustomed
haste and comfort of a railway; so out of his hitherto beaten way of
life, that he is delighted to get into the saddle. But it may be a
question whether he is not generally more delighted to get out of it;
particularly if that saddle be a Turkish one.

George had heard of Arab horses, and the clouds of dust which rise
from their winged feet. When first he got beyond the hedges of the
orange gardens, he expected to gallop forth till he found himself
beneath the walls of Jerusalem. But he had before him many an hour
of tedious labour ere those walls were seen. His pace was about four
miles an hour. During the early day he strove frequently to mend it;
but as the sun became hot in the heavens, his efforts after speed
were gradually reduced, and long before evening he had begun to think
that Jerusalem was a myth, his dragoman an impostor, and his Arab
steed the sorriest of jades.

"It is the longest journey I ever took in my life," said George.

"Longest; yes. A top of two mountain more, and two go-down, and then
there; yes," said the dragoman, among whose various accomplishments
that of speaking English could hardly be reckoned as the most
prominent.

At last the two mountains more and the two go-downs were performed,
and George was informed that the wall he saw rising sharp from the
rocky ground was Jerusalem. There is something very peculiar in the
first appearance of a walled city that has no suburbs or extramural
adjuncts. It is like that of a fortress of cards built craftily on
a table. With us in England it is always difficult to say where the
country ends and where the town begins; and even with the walled
towns of the Continent, one rarely comes upon them so as to see the
sharp angles of a gray stone wall shining in the sun, as they do in
the old pictures of the cities in "Pilgrim's Progress."

But so it is with Jerusalem. One rides up to the gate feeling
that one is still in the desert; and yet a moment more, with the
permission of those very dirty-looking Turkish soldiers at the gate,
will place one in the city. One rides up to the gate, and as every
one now has a matured opinion as to the taking of casemated batteries
and the inefficiency of granite bastions, one's first idea is how
delightfully easy it would be to take Jerusalem. It is at any rate
easy enough to enter it, for the dirty Turkish soldiers do not even
look at you, and you soon become pleasantly aware that you are b