FRIDAY, April 25.

The rain did not abate through the night, and it was only at half-past ten A.M. that the clouds broke and the first rays of the sun came to apprise us of approaching good weather. It was amusing to witness with what rapidity the tents were folded, the baggage was loaded on the mules, and camp after camp left the place.

As we knew it would be impossible to reach Kaïfa, at the foot of Mount Carmel, that night, it being a ride of fourteen to fifteen hours, we did not hurry, and it was half-past eleven when we mounted our horses. We were en route but half an hour when a heavy shower surprised us, the rain and hail lasting at least fifteen minutes; our waterproofs proving but poor coverings, while our horses, half blinded, stopped short, turning their backs to the storm. The roads being very wet, and the ground soft and muddy, we could advance but slowly; and after four hours' ride, having twice forded. the Kishon, we chose our place of encampment in a green valley not far from the road, and there took lunch while the tents were being pitched.

Soon we saw the Amory party pass, who encamped a short distance beyond us. While dinner was being prepared every one retired to their tents to take a nap. We were in the land of dreams, and night was approaching, when the sound of a gun suddenly awoke us; we heard the raised voices of the muleteers, the mules and horses running to and fro, and Joseph rushed into the tent, exclaiming: "Sir, your revolver, the Bedouins! Half dreaming and half awake, this announcement

sounded terrifically in our ears, and while Tom rushed to the scene of danger we supplicated Henry Beadel, who was fllowing him, to remain with us, for we were really frightened Until then we had believed but title in attacks of Bedouins; we had even jested aleat them, wishing to have the luck of an encounter; but at the approach of danger all the stories we had heard came back to our minds, and for my part I already fancied I was carried off by an Arab chief, tied behind him on his horse, riding at a fearful rate over mounts and valleys to the place of his abode.

How quickly our imagination travels! Bang! bang! three, four, five shots were heard, then all was silent again; and a few minutes after Tom entered the tent with his pistol smoking, and told us there was nothing to fear; that when they arrived on the road, though it was already dark, they saw some Bedouins ride rapidly past; that one turned around and fired; our people returned it, but as it was too dark to aim well, they did not think they had wounded any, as they did not slacken the speed of their horses. It was, then, but a bloodless skirmish, which made a subject for conversation during our dinner, and it was only the next morning that we heard that the rascally marauders had stolen two fine horses from the Amory camp.

Our animals were tethered between the tents; our muleteers kept guard part of the night, and Mohammed, our servant, lay down across our door-way, so as to be aroused by the least noise; but when Tom got up in the night, and went out to reconnoitre, he found every one

asleep, and passed and repassed over Mohammed's body without awaking him. But the assurance that he would keep guard procured us a profound and refreshing slumber.

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CHAPTER XX.

PROVINCE OF GALILEE-PLAIN OF ESDRAELON-MOUNT

CARMEL THE DESERTERS-" THE TURKEY ATE IT, SIR”

NAZARETH-CHURCH OF THE ANNUNCIATION-JOSEPH'S WORKSHOP-FOUNTAIN OF THE VIRGIN-RHAPSODY AND FACTS-CANA-PLAIN OF HATTIN-TIBERIADE-SEA OF

GALILEE.

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SATURDAY, April 26, 1868. HE province of Galilee," says Dixon, "has always been considered the garden of Syria. Everything grows on its soil, from the Caspian walnut to the Egyptian palm. While the hills of Judea are stern and barren, and the meadows of Sharon burnt and dry, these wadies of Galilee are almost everywhere laughing with herbs and flowers.

"A forest of oak clothes the side of Mount Carmel; cedar clumps nestle in the clefts of Mount Hermon; myrtles enlarge into trees, and myriads of orange blossoms throw their scent into the air. Every hill is a vineyard, every bottom a corn-field.

"The Delta of the Nile is not more sunny; the Vega of Granada is not more picturesque; the Ghota of Damascus is not more green and bright. For here the fierce sun and the refreshing rain come together, and water flows through Galilee not in tanks and pools, but poured out royally towards the sea in streams."

Such indeed was the character of the country we travelled through that day, and though we had a fatiguing ride of nine hours, for the rain had changed the many rivulets we had to cross into as many little streams, and often our horses would sink into marshy and muddy ground to their chests, no one complained; and our lunch was taken under the shade of the oaks of Carmel, overlooking the lovely plain of Esdraelon, the battlefield of Israel.

How charming was the approach to Kaïfa! How gorgeous looked the setting sun beyond the blue Mediterranean, just then calm as a lake, while we could. see St. Jean d'Acre on the opposite side of the bay. We postponed our ascent of Mount Carmel until the following morning, and after dinner took a stroll on the beach, amusing ourselves gathering shells.

SUNDAY, April 27.

To horse at eight, and leaving our beautiful camping ground by the shore, embowered in trees, and hedged in by cacti, we take our way along the plain where the husbandmen are busy at their labors, pass through an orchard of olive-trees skirting the base of the mountain, and soon commence the ascent of the steep, rough staircase, cut in the rock, about half a mile in length, which leads to the eyrie of "Our Lady of Carmel."

The ascent over these shelves and banks is a dangerous pilgrimage, not to be undertaken too late in the afternoon you want the full daylight to lead your horse up and over the slippery white stones edging a precipice