I was desirous of tracing the course of the river from this outlet to its embouchure in the lake Asphaltites; but we were assured by the different persons whom we applied to on the subject, that the scheme was impracticable. Not being able, therefore, to procure a guide, we were forced to relinquish the idea, and prepared to return to Nazareth, by a route which might comprehend mount Tabor. We arrived at its base in five hours after quitting the Jordan, and were another hour in gaining the summit. The acclivity is extremely steep and rugged, and our horses, although they had previously made their way through passes, which seemed impervious to any animal more bulky than an antelope, were in brought with them on their return a pilgrim's staff, as a testimonial of their devotion, and in proof of the accomplishment of their pilgrimage. "Je n'ai point rapporté dans mon pays un pareil symbole de gloire !"* Such conduct would probably be considered by the fastidious taste and liberal cant of the present day, either as an act of hypocritical foppery, or á mark of extravagant superstition. For examples of an application to religious usages of the water of the river Jordan in the family of the Medici, and of the deportation of earth from Palestine by the Pisans, the reader is referred to the Histoire de Toscane. He may also consult the Voyage de Delalande-de l'Abbé Richard—and les Observations de deux Gentilshommes Suedois, sur l'Italie. * Itineraire de Paris à Jérusalém. many parts much puzzled to maintain a footing. The view from the summit is extensive, and the situation admirably adapted for the splendid spectacle, which is supposed to have been there exhibited. I beg to be understood as expressing myself with extreme diffidence on all points, which affect the locality of the transactions recorded in the sacred writings; but where the description is given in merely general terms, without any minute detail of those circumstances which leave no room for conjecture, there surely may be allowed some diversity of sentiment. The history of the transfiguration, as related by St. Matthew, fixes the scene on a solitary mountain : εἰς ὄρος ὑψηλὸν κατ' ἰδιἄν, which our translation interprets, "into a high mountain apart." St. Mark's account justifies a different construction of the words κατ' ἰδιἄν, which seem to refer rather to the persons spoken of, than to the position of the mountain. His expressions are, αναφέρει αὐτὸς εἰς ὄρος ὑψηλὸν κατ' ἰδιαν Móveç. The authorised English version renders the passage thus: "Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into a high mountain, APART BY THEMSELVES." Literally speaking, mount Tabor is not a high mountain by itself: a hill of considerable altitude rises very near its western base, and, though not of the same degree of elevation, is sufficiently lofty to prevent its having the appearance of standing in a plain, remote from any other eminence. We are assured in the same chapter, that after Jesus had restored the young person, who had suffered from his infancy under the influence of a deaf and dumb spirit, he departed thence with his disciples and passed through Galilee, and came afterwards to Capernaum but as Capernaum is in Galilee, had the mount of transfiguration been situated in the same province, the Evangelist would hardly have described Christ's journey in these terms. Dr. Clarke's attendants represented mount Tabor as having on its top "a a plain of great extent, finely cultivated, and inhabited by numerous Arab tribes !” This statement is wonderfully inaccurate. The figure of the hill is that of a cone with the point struck off: the summit is very otherwise than an extensive 1 The writer had not the assistance of Dr. Clarke's Works to guide him in his inquiries;-the passage cited above is taken from an article in one of the Reviews, where the quotation is presumed to be correct. plain, being only a very few acres, nearly covered with the ruins of a fortress, without one solitary tenant, and entirely destitute of the slightest symptoms of cultivation. The sides are rugged and precipitous, but clothed with trees and brushwood. It was here that Barak was encamped, when, at the suggestion of Deborah, he descended with ten thousand men, and discomfited the host of Sisera, "So that Sisera lighted off his chariot, and fled away on his feet." (Judges iv. 14, 15.) At a few leagues to the east is mount Hermon, at whose base the village of Nain is situated, the place mentioned by St. Luke' as memorable for our Saviour's restoring from death the only son of a widowed mother. Not far from thence is Endor, the residence of the soothsayer applied to by Saul. South of Hermon are the mountains of Gilboa, and the hills of Samaria, beyond these, terminate the view. We returned to this place at five in the afternoon, and shall probably to-morrow "set our faces towards Jerusalem," crossing the plain of Esdraelon to Naplouse; from whence it is not more than a day and a half's distance to the capital of Judæa. 1 Chap. vii. 14. DEAR E LETTER V. TO SIR G. ET, BART. Franciscan Convent, Jerusalem, Aug. 16th, 1817. We took leave of our friends at Nazareth early in the afternoon of the 12th, and in the course of six hours arrived at Ginna, or Jinnin, the frontier town between Galilee and Samaria. After the first mile, where the road winds down the mountains which encircle Nazareth, the route lies over a fine and extremely fertile plain,1 bounded by a range of hills: 1 The extensive vale interposed between Nazareth and Jinnin has at different times and on different occasions been termed, the plain of Esdraelon, the field of Megiddo, the plain of Galilee, and the plain of Saba. It is a portion of the land of Canaan, which even in the present neglected state is still distinguished by the luxuriancy of its produce, and appears to merit the peculiar character of fertility so emphatically given it in the sacred writings; though from the higher degree of cultivation to which the Delta is subjected, its com |