came-nothing remarkable occurring on the way; unless I were to notice that the Latin Convent at Nazareth had been, in this interval, much deserted, there being only six Friars left in it; the others were gone either to Bethlehem or Acre.

Between Acre and Tyre, I met a very respectable elderly person in black Frank-clothes, who informed me that he was an Irish Roman-Catholic Priest, and had vowed, or, as he expressed it, had made a promise to God, that he would go all the way on foot to Jerusalem; and, having thus far kept his promise, voyages of course excepted, he will probably hold on, till his feet stand within the gates of the Holy City. I was in such urgent haste to escape the rain, and reach my destination before night-fall, that I could not stop to converse with him as I wished*. As it was, I was under the necessity of halting short of Tyre, and sleeping in a most miserable hut, not water-proof-the rain dropping through on my bed --at Ras el Ain. All the rest of the way to Beirout,

*The account which we afterward heard of the progress of this Pilgrim was as follows:-Having arrived at Nazareth, he heard that there were so many difficulties likely to be met with, if he proceeded on foot to Jerusalem, that he determined to return to Acre, and thence take a passage in a boat to Jaffa. In the mean time, à rumour of the plague at Tiberias induced the Pacha of Acre to establish a quarantine in that city. The Irish Priest, while he remained in Nazareth, attended with the greatest humanity to a dying Italian, from whom every body else fled, supposing him to be infected with the plague. Unacquainted with the horror which that apprehension inspires in persons accustomed to the Levant, he seemed astonished at the selfishness of their fears, and himself alone supported the languishing patient many hours in his arms. The case was, how

ever, of a consumptive nature: the life of his attendant would otherwise, in all probability, have been forfeited. He, after this, returned to Acre; but, quarantine having been established, was not permitted to enter; and himself suffered much from the inclemency of the season. He finally reached the Holy City in safety-" his vow completed."

I was occasionally incommoded by stormy weather; but happily nothing like illness detained me before my arrival in that city, which took place late on Monday night, the 22d December.

Here, to my great joy, I found Mr. and Mrs. Bird, Mr. and Mrs. Goodell, and Mr. King, occupying a house, and giving a new Missionary attraction to the place. I have reason to record, with especial gratitude, the many acts of Christian Kindness which I experienced under the hospitable roof of our American Friends. These offices of love were, indeed, most seasonable; as my stay in Beirout, which it was supposed would not exceed a week or two, was unexpectedly protracted to fifty days, during which anxious period the effect of my journeying developed itself in a painful illness which fell upon me, but which providentially spent its force before my departure.

An opportunity for Alexandria, at length, offered on the 9th of February, 1824; when I quitted Syria with such emotions of thankfulness, as might well arise in the breast of one who, after performing in past years several almost solitary journeys, had spent nearly all the last five months in the society of Missionary Brethren and Sisters. With these, already become eight in number, I had often experienced the blessing spoken of in those expressive wordsWe have fellowship one with another; and, Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

The time from Acre to Nazareth was increased by perhaps two hours, from the guide not being well acquainted with the road.

A traveller, on horseback, and unincumbered with baggage, would perform most of these distances, especially in fine weather, in a shorter time.

280

NOTES TO THE JOURNAL.

A.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE.

House of the Dead.

WHILE walking out, one evening, a few fields' distance from Deir el Kamr, with Hanna Doomani, the son of my host (see p. 86), to see a detached garden belonging to his father, he pointed out to me, near it, a small, solid, stone building, apparently a house; very solemnly adding, “ Kabbar beity," -"the Sepulchre of our family." It had neither door nor window. He then directed my attention to a considerable number of similar buildings, at a distance: which, to the eye, are exactly like houses; but which are, in fact, family-mansions for the dead. They have a most melancholy appearance, which made him shudder while he explained their use. They seem, by their dead walls, which must be opened at each several interment of the members of a family, to say, "This is an unkindly house, to which visitors do not willingly throng: but, one by one, they will be forced to enter; and none who enter, ever come out again."

Perhaps this custom, which prevails particularly at Deir el Kamr, and in the lonely neighbouring parts of the Mountain, may have been of great antiquity; and may serve to explain some Scripture-phrases, The Prophet Samuel was buried in his house at Ramah: 1 Sam. xxv. 1: it could hardly be in his dwelling-house. Joab was buried in his own house in the wildernéss: 1 Kings ii. 34. This is the house appointed for all living: Job xxx. 23.

Carpzovius (Apparatus, p. 643.) remarks, " Vix credendum est sepulchra in ipsis ædibus sub tecto fuisse....quapropter rectiùs intelligitur id omne quod ad domum pertinet, eidemque cohæret; ac proin etiam area, vel hortus, in cujus fortè angulo exteriori tale quoddam extruxerunt monumentum." The view of these sepulchral houses at Deir el Kamr puts the matter beyond conjecture.

Possibly, likewise, the passages in Proverbs ii. 18, 19. and vii. 27. and ix. 18. describing the house of a wanton woman, may have drawn their imagery from this custom. He knoweth not that the dead are there.....her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again.

Gen. xviii. 6, 10. and xxvii. 14, 17.

When we had finished our meals, in the family in which I resided at Deir el Kamr, and were risen, the mother, daughter, and daughter-in-law, who had been waiting at the door, came in, and partook of what remained. Thus it is in Syria: and thus it has been, probably, ever since Abraham, a Syrian ready to perish, traversed these regions, dwelling in tents: when Sarah, having prepared an entertainment for three Divine Strangers, did not present it, that being Abraham's office; but stood at the tent-door, which was behind him. So Rebekah prepared food for her husband to eat, and sent it in by the hand of Jacob.

Prov. xi. 21.

The expression though hand join in hand, may bear a slight correction; conformable both to the original Hebrew, and also to the custom actually prevailing in Syria. The original

simply signifies, hand to hand. And this is the custom of persons in the East, when they greet each other, or strike hands, in token of friendship and agreement. They touch their right-hands respectively; and then raise them up to their lips and forehead. This is the universal Eastern courtesy: the English Version, and the devices grounded upon it, give the idea of hand clasped in hand, which is European, rather than Oriental. The sense, therefore, is, Though hand meet hand-intimating, that heart assents to heart in the perpetration of wickedness-yet shall not the wicked go unpunished.

Isaiah xiv. 8.

As we passed (see p. 96) through the extensive forest of fir-trees situated between Deir el Kamr and Ainep, we had