the two former classes, on account of the seven years' indulgence granted to those who visit it; the two latter, because they believe that some virtue must reside within a stone before which all comers are so eager to prostrate themselves. As we passed through the streets, loud screams, as of a person frantic with rage and grief, drew our attention towards a miserable hovel, whence we perceived a woman issuing hastily, with a cradle, containing an infant. Having placed the child upon the area before her dwelling, she as quickly ran back again; we then perceived her beating something violently, all the while filling the air with the most piercing shrieks. Running to see what was the cause of her cries, we observed an enormous serpent, which she had found near her infant, and had completely dispatched before our arrival. Never were maternal feelings more strikingly pourtrayed than in the countenance of this woman. Not satisfied with having killed the animal, she continued her blows until she had reduced it to atoms, unheeding any thing that was said to her, and only abstracting her attention from its mangled body to cast, occasionally, a wild and momentary glance towards her child. In the evening we visited the environs, and, walking to the brow of a hill above the town, were gratified by an interesting prospect of the long valley of Nazareth, and some hills between which a road leads to the neighbouring Plain of Esdraelon, and to Jerusalem. Some of the Arabs came to converse with us. We were surprised CHAP. XIII. Environs of the Town. to CHAP. XIII. Ordinary Penance of Travellers in the Holy Land. to hear them speaking Italian: they said they had been The plants near the town were almost all withered. We found only four of which we were able to select tolerable specimens. These were, the new species of Dianthus mentioned in the account of our Journey from Sephoury, the Syrian Pink, or Dianthus Monadelphus'; the Ammi Copticum2; and the Anethum graveolens': these we carefully placed in our herbary, as memorials of the interesting spot whereon they were collected. We observed the manner of getting in the harvest it is carried on the backs of camels; and the corn being afterwards placed in heaps, is trodden out by bullocks walking in a circle; something like the mode of treading corn in the Crimea, where horses are used for this purpose. The second night after our arrival, as soon as it grew dark, we all stretched ourselves upon the floor of our apartment, not without serious alarm of catching the plague, but tempted by the hope of obtaining a little repose. This we (1) Ventenat. (2) Linn. (3) Linn, et Dill. we had found impracticable the night before, in consequence of the vermin. The hope was, however, vain; not one of our party could close his eyes. Every instant it was necessary to rise, and endeavour to shake off the noxious animals with which our bodies were covered. In addition to this penance, we were serenaded, until four o'clock in the morning, the hour we had fixed for our departure, by the constant ringing of a chapel bell, as a charm against the plague; by the barking of dogs; braying of asses; howling of jackals; and by the squalling of children. CHAP. XIII. THE HOLY LAND.-NAZARETH TO TIBERIAS. The Author leaves Nazareth, to visit Galilee-Rani-Cana-Chapel CHAP. XIV. AFTER a sleepless night, rising more fatigued than when we retired to rest, and deeming a toilsome journey preferable to the suffering state we had all endured, we left Nazareth at five o'clock o'clock on Sunday morning, July the sixth. Instead of pro CHAP. XIV. leaves Nazareth, to visit Galilee, ceeding to Jerusalem, (our intention being to complete the The Author tour of Galilee, and to visit the Lake of Gennesareth,) we returned by the way we came, until we had quitted the valley, and ascended the hills to the north of the town. We then descended, in the same northerly direction, or rather north-east, into some fine valleys, more cultivated than any land we had yet seen in this country, surrounded by hills of limestone, destitute of trees. After thus riding for an hour, we passed the village of Rani, leaving it upon our left, and came in view of the small village of Cana', situated on a gentle eminence, in the midst of one of these valleys. It is difficult to ascertain its exact distance from Nazareth. Our horses were never out of a foot's pace, and we Rani. (1) "Kava, Cotne in versione Syriacâ." Reland. Palæstina Illustrata. The striking evidence concerning the disputed situation of this place, as it is contained in the words of the request made by the ruler of Capernaum to our Saviour, when he besought him to heal his son, only proves how accurately the writings of the Evangelists correspond with the geography and present appearance of the country. He supplicates Jesus, who was then at Cana, " that he would come down, and heal his son." (John iv. 47.) "Ut descendat, et veniat Capernaum; unde judicari potest," observes the learned Reland, મંદ Capernaum in inferiori regione sitam fuisse quam Canam. Erat autem Capernaum ad mare." How singularly this is confirmed by the extraordinary features of this part of Syria, will appear in the description given of our journey from Cana towards the Sea of Galilee. In the 51st verse of the same chapter of St. John, it is stated, “As he was now going down, his servants met him." His whole route from Cana, according to the position of the place now so called, was, in fact, a continual descent towards Capernaum. (2) Cana of Galilee has been confounded with Sepher Cana, or Cana Major, in the territory of the tribe of Asher: hence the discordant accounts given by Adrichomius, Aranda, and others, concerning its distance from Nazareth. Cana Major is mentioned, as the inheritance of the tribe of Asher, in the 28th verse of the 19th chapter of the book of Joshua, together with Hebron, and Rehob, and Hammon. Cana of Galilee (John |