of El Arish, the last town on the Egyptian frontier. 31.—­We spent in El Arish, being unable to get fresh camels.  We bought a sheep for five shillings; drank freely of their delightful water,—­what a blessing after the desert!  Found out the river of Egypt, the boundary of Judah mentioned in the Bible, quite dry. June 1.—­Visited the school,—­a curiosity:  all the children sit cross-legged on the floor, rocking to and fro, repeating something in Arabic.  We had a curious interview with the governor, sitting in the gate in the ancient manner.  We are quite expert now at taking off our shoes and sitting in the Eastern mode.  Smoking, and coffee in very small cups, are the constant accompaniments of these visits.  Left the same evening, and did not reach Sheikh Juidhe, in the land of the Philistines, till the sun was nearly bursting into view. 2.—­Spent a happy Sabbath here; sung ‘In Judah’s land God is well known.’  Singing praises in our tents is very sweet, they are so frail, like our mortal bodies; they rise easily into the ears of our present Father.  Our journey through the land of the Philistines was truly pleasant. 3.—­We went through a fine pasture country; immense straths; flocks of sheep and goats, and asses and camels, often came in sight.  This is the very way up out of Egypt, little changed from the day that the Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing, and Joseph and Mary carried down the babe from the anger of Herod.  Little changed, did I say? it is all changed; no more is there one brook of water.  Every river of Egypt,—­Wady Gaza, Eshcol, Sorek,—­every brook we crossed, was dried up; not a drop of water.  The land is changed; no more is it the rich land of Philistia.  The sand struggles with the grass for mastery.  The cities are changed,—­where are they?  The people are changed:  no more the bold Philistines,—­no more the children of Simeon,—­no more Isaac and his herdsmen,—­no more David and his horsemen; but miserable Arab shepherds,—­simple people, without ideas,—­poor degraded, fearful.  Khanounes was the first town we entered:  Scripture name unknown.  The burying-ground outside the town.  The well, and people coming to draw, were objects of great interest to us.  The people were highly entertained with us in return.  We sat down in the bazaar, and were a spectacle to all.  How much we longed to have the Arabic tongue, that we might preach the unsearchable riches of Christ in God’s own land!  Same evening we heard the cry of the wolf, and encamped two miles from Gaza.  The plague was raging, so we did not enter, but spent a delightful day in comparing its condition with God’s word concerning it:  ’Baldness is come upon Gaza.’  The old city is buried under sand-hills, without a blade of grass, so that it is bald indeed.  The herds and flocks are innumerable, fulfilling Zeph. 2; Andrew and I climbed the hill up which Samson carried the gates. 5.—­Passed through a fine olive grove for many miles, and entered the vale of Eshcol.  The people were all in the