come to St. Saba and lodge, on their way to the Jordan: they are sometimes cut off by the Arabs, who waylay them in the wilderness. The gloomy grots and caves on the opposite precipices, where many a saint of old retired from the world, are, some of them, above a hundred feet above the glen: the pilgrims never lodge there, or feel at ease till the massive gates, secured with bands of iron, and the lofty towers, of immense strength, are placed between them and the enemy.

LAKE OF TIBERIAS, OR SEA OF GALILEE,

FROM THE NORTHERN THEATRE OF OON KEIS.

This view is taken from an eminence towards the northern extremity of the lake, and at some distance from it. The mountains on the opposite or eastern side are lofty, bare, and precipitous: the western shore, where Tiberias stands, consists of gentle and verdant hills, divided by wild and romantic vales, down one or two of which flows a mountain stream. This lake and its shores present, perhaps, the loveliest scene in Palestine: there are no groves of palm or olive, or sycamore, and few are the scattered trees on the slopes or in the defiles. Yet it has a primeval simplicity, a pastoral beauty, a solemn calm, that are indelibly delightful. Tiberias, its only town, is now a heap of ruins, destroyed by the earthquake which levelled Safet and other places in the neighbourhood. The house of the rich old Jew where we lodged, perished with the rest: he had come here from Aleppo, where he was a wealthy merchant, and built this handsome house in order that he might die at the lake of Galilee, in the bosom of his beloved country. This roof, after the wretched homes on the way, was a bower of luxury: his beds were clean and soft, his table well supplied; so singularly clean was the taste of the family, that the meat was always washed with soap before it was dressed. Every morning at an early hour we heard the voice of the rabbi, who was one of his household, engaged in the Jewish worship with the family and servants. The waters bathed the walls of the house, on whose terraced roof it was beautiful to walk at night, and remember the hour when the Redeemer walked on the surface of the waves, through the storm and darkness, to save his disciples. The lake is fourteen miles long, and five or six broad; its waters are sweet and clear, and abound in excellent fish; the species of the size and colour of the grey mullet, is of a delicious flavour: there are a few boats here, for the fishermen still exercise their calling as in the times of old. There are hot baths not far from the town, celebrated for their medicinal qualities, and resorted to by all ranks in the country. Here the pasha of Acre was encamped with a retinue for this purpose; and Lady Hester Stanhope also, who had taken up her residence in a mosque. There are a great many Jews in and around Tiberias: some of them were Polish and German, men of respectable appearance and well dressed, who had come here also to spend their decline of life: we met them often walking along the shores, with the look of satisfaction and interest, like that with which an exile returns to his home, and roams amidst

long-loved scenes. The air is in the summer faint and oppressive: but the lofty hills around offer a purer atmosphere, particularly the mountain on whose summit stands the town of Safet, the ancient Bethulia, which was besieged by Holofernes, and delivered by the beautiful Judith. This lofty hill, in its aspect, declivities, and position of the town on its rocky crest, answers exactly to the description' in the Apocrypha. The excursions around the lake are fine; even the ride round the whole circuit of its waters, on the sides of the wild mountains opposite, and through the plain of the Jordan, their foot, is deeply interesting; many fragments of ruins and houses are met with, which one cannot but imagine may be those of the ancient Bethsaida and Capernaum. About two miles above the lake, to the west, is shown the spot which tradition has preserved as the mount of Beatitudes, where our Lord preached his sermon; it is a gentle hill covered with grass; it rises gradually towards the summit, on which, as well as on its sides, small masses of rock are scattered. It is a sweet spot, where the shepherd and his flock may rest at noonday on its green pastures; and where the traveller, in the cool of the evening, may look on the still waters far beneath, on which the sun is shedding its last glory, and remember the words of life and immortality first proclaimed on this mount, down whose slopes each accent could be distinctly heard; while the form of the Redeemer, on the small green summit, was beautifully visible to every eye, in each look, each gesture, of mercy and love. Between this and Tiberias there is a spot on the left, a green spot on a gentle declivity, where, tradition says, the five thousand were miraculously fed. Tiberias was built by Herod the Great, and named after the Roman emperor: it was the ancient seat of Jewish literature; and there was, previous to the earthquake, a college of Jews here, where several rabbins were engaged in studying Hebrew folios; they occupied two large rooms, which were surrounded with books, and said they spent their time entirely in studying the scriptures and commentaries thereon.

No part of the environs of this celebrated sea delighted us more than the plain of Gennesaret, over which we passed a few days after. Having traced about two-thirds of the shore on the way to Safet, this plain suddenly opened on the left. It is one of the loveliest tracts in the whole land, covered with a rank wild verdure, and watered by a single stream, that issues from a large pool in the middle of the plain. Boldly and beautifully the mountains enclosed it on two of its sides: the sun was resting redly on their declivities, and on the wide and silent area beneath, on which no trace of cultivation was visible. This region was evidently the favourite residence, or place of visitation, of the Redeemer, and here his steps came more frequently than to any other part of the land. Where the stream finishes its course in the lake, is still pointed out the site of one of those cities, of Capernaum, it is said, on which the curse fell. It seems, to the traveller in Palestine, as if its loveliest scenes and places were the chosen ones of the Redeemer, and that the Lord of heaven and earth evinced a preference, if it be permitted to say thus, for the beautiful in the land he so loved: the sea of Galilee, the plain of Gennesaret, Capernaum, Nain, Sychem, Bethany, &c., were, more often than any others, the places of his resort-and are peculiarly favoured by nature.