one of them had the key of the room.  The travellers went to the judge of the town to complain; but the judge, who was a Turk, was asleep, and no one was allowed to awake him.  In the evening, when he did awake, he would not see justice done, because he said he had nothing to do with the servants at the convent, as they were Christians.  Nazareth, you see, is still a wicked city, where robbery is committed and not punished.

There is much to make the traveller sad as he wanders about the Holy Land.

That land was once fruitful, but now it is barren.  It is not surprising that no one plants and sows in the fields, because the Turks would take away the harvests.

Once it was a peaceful land, but now there are so many enemies that every man carries a gun to defend himself.

Once it was a holy land, but now Mahomet is honored, and not the God of Israel.

When shall it again be fruitful, and peaceful, and holy?  When the Jews shall repent of their sins and turn to the Lord.  Then, says the prophet Ezekiel, (xxxvi. 35,) “They shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden."[1]

    [1] Taken chiefly from “A Pastor’s Memorial,” by the Rev. George Fisk.

SYRIA.

Those who love the Holy Land will like to hear about Syria also; for Abraham lived there before he came into Canaan.  Therefore the Israelites were taught to say when they offered a basket of fruit to God, “A Syrian was my father.”  It was a heathen land in old times; and it is now a Mahomedan land; though there are a few Christians there, but very ignorant Christians, who know nothing of the Bible.

Syria is a beautiful land, and famous for its grand mountains, called Lebanon.  The same clergyman who travelled through the Holy Land went to Lebanon also.  He had to climb up very steep places on horseback, and slide down some, as slanting as the roof of a house.  But the Syrian horses are very sure-footed.  It is the custom for the colts from a month old to follow their mothers; and so when a rider mounts the back of the colt’s mother, the young creature follows, and it learns to scramble up steep places, and to slide down; even through the towns the colt trots after its mother, and soon becomes accustomed to all kinds of sights and sounds:  so that Syrian horses neither shy nor stumble.

The traveller was much surprised at the dress of the women of Lebanon:  for on their heads they wear silver horns sticking out from under their veils, the strangest head-dress that can be imagined.

There are sweet flowers growing on the sides of Lebanon; but at the top there are ice and snow.

The traveller ate some ice, and gave some to the horses; and the poor beasts devoured it eagerly, and seemed quite refreshed by their cold meal.

The snow of Lebanon is spoken of in the Bible as very pure and refreshing.  “Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon, which cometh from the rock of the field?”—­Jer. xviii. 14.