Here, looking across the valley to the city's western walls, we had our final view of Jerusalem. This view is well represented in the drawing that I send you. Just over the wall, beyond the little square building in the foreground, is the lower pool of Gihon, now represented as being dry.

2. Continuing in a southerly direction, we passed near Bethlehem again, and then onward, through a deep and narrow valley, to Hebron, first known as the "city of the Anakim," and afterwards so celebrated as the place in which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwelt, and in which they were buried. Here, also, twenty miles south of Jerusalem, David was anointed king over Israel; it is believed that he composed many of his Psalms here; and here Absalom, having stolen "the hearts of the men of Israel," raised the standard of rebellion against his father."

3. We pitched our tent a short distance north of the city, near an ancient oak-tree, very large and very beautiful, which the people claim as the tree of Abraham, and where they say his tent was pitched when he came to dwell in the plain of Mamre. From this point we had a fine view of the country around us. Prof. Howard said he regretted that we were not here in May, the time of the wheat and barley harvest, for at that season he had seen the grassy slopes of the valley occupied by numerous threshing-floors, upon which the grain was trodden out by cattle, and winnowed by hand.

4. The owners of the crops, he said, came every night and slept upon their threshing-floors to guard them. This reminded us of the scene mentioned in the book of Ruth, where Boaz is mentioned as winnowing barley in his threshing-floor, and laying himself down at night to guard

a EXERCISE.-Write narrative of events connected with Hebron. See Gen. xiii. 18; xxiii. 2, 9, 19; xxxv. 27; xlix. 29–33; 1. 13;— Josh. xv. 13; xiv. 15; xx. 7; xxi. 11, 13;—Judges i. 10;-Num. xiii. 21-24;-2d Sam. ii. 1–4; v. 5; xv. 7–12;—Neh. xi. 25.

the heaps of corn. And probably the fields of Boaz were between Hebron and Bethlehem,-and perhaps we passed over them.

5. Starting from Hebron early in the morning, and taking a north-westerly direction for Jaffa, before mid-day we were travelling in the valley of Elah; and a little north of Sho'choh, about eighteen or twenty miles from Jerusalem, we sat down to our noonday meal by a little brook supposed to be the one from which the stripling David “chose five smooth stones," with one of which he slew Goliath of Gath; for, as the Bible narrative tells us, the brook was in the middle of the valley, and Saul and the men of Israel were on the one side of the valley, and the Philistines on the other."

6. When we had finished our noonday meal, Prof. Howard read to us the history of these events from the seventeenth chapter of the First Book of Samuel; then, standing in the shade of an olive-tree near by, he read to us, from a pocket volume of poems and dramas relating to historic scenes and incidents in the Holy Land, the following supposed speech of the proud and haughty Philistine, when he came out from the Philistine ranks and defied the armies of Israel::

II.-Speech of the Philistine Chief.

1. Where is the mighty man of war, who dares
Accept the challenge of Philistia's chief?
What victor king, what general drenched in blood,
Claims this high privilege? What are his rights?
What proud credentials does the boaster bring
To prove his claim? What cities laid in ashes,

a Ruth iii. 2-14.

Corn was the term applied to wheat, barley, etc. 1st Sam. xvii.-The valley of Elah, Sho'choh (now Suwei'keh), and the very brook itself, have all been well identified.

2.

3.

What ruined provinces, what slaughtered realms,
What heads of heroes, or what hearts of kings,
In battle killed, or at his altar slain,

Has he to boast?

Is his bright armory

Thick set with spears, and swords, and coats of mail
Of vanquished nations, by his single arm
Subdued? Where is the mortal man so bold,
So much a wretch, so out of love with life,
To dare the weight of this uplifted spear,
Which never fell innoxious?

Yet I swear,

I grudge the glory to his parting soul

To fall by this right hand. Twill sweeten death
To know he had the honor to contend

With the dread son of Anak. Latest time

From blank oblivion shall retrieve his name
Who dared to perish in unequal fight

With Gath's triumphant champion. Come, advance.
Philistia's gods to Israel's. Sound, my herald,
Sound for the battle straight.

4. Then, after telling how David went forward, and accepted the challenge, and how the Philistine despised him, and cursed him, and told him he would twist his spear in the fair stripling's shining locks, and toss his mangled limbs to the vultures to feed upon, the Professor gave the following as the speech of David:

III.-Speech of the Stripling David.

1. Ha! say'st thou so? Come on then. Mark us well. Thou com'st to me with sword, and spear, and shield;

2.

In the dread name of Israel's God I come,—
The living Lord of Hosts, whom thou defiest.
Yet though no shield I bring, no arms except
These five smooth stones just gathered from the brook,
With such a simple sling as shepherds use-

Yet all exposed, defenceless as I am,

The God I serve shall give thee up a prey
To my victorious arm.

This day I mean

To make th' uncircumcised tribes confess
There is a God in Israel. I will give thee,
Spite of thy vaunted strength and giant bulk,
To glut the carrion kites. Nor thee alone :—
The mangled carcasses of yon thick hosts
Shall spread the plains of Elah, till Philistia,
Through all her trembling tents and flying bands,
Shall own that Judah's God is God indeed.-
I dare thee to the trial.

Hannah More.

3. I picked up five smooth pebbles from the little stream by which we were sitting, and put them in my pocket; I intend to place them in our Muse'um, and label them, "From the brook whence David chose the stone that killed Goliath."

IV. From Elah to Joppa.

1. Leaving the plains of Elah, we continued our journey to the north-west, and late in the day we reached Ramleh, a large village in the ancient plains of Sharon, where we encamped for the night. The town is surrounded by olive groves, and gardens of vegetables and delicious fruits; and on the highest land in the town is an ancient massive stone tower about eighty feet high. One hundred and twenty stone steps lead to the top of it. It is called the "Tower of the Forty," and I send you a drawing of it. The Chris

tians of the town say that the name commemorates forty Christian martyrs who were buried on the spot; but the Mohammedans claim that forty companions of the Prophet lie there at rest.

2. Early the next morning we ascended this tower; and, as the sun arose, a view presented itself to us, rarely surpassed in any of the valleys of Italy or the Rhine. Nestling among the hills on the north-east, were numerous large villages, and these were studded with domes and minarets, which reflected back the rays of the rising sun, and revealed to us the mountains of Judah and the plains of Sharon in all their richness and beauty. Prof. Howard reminded us of the numerous herds that once fed in these valleys," and of the roses and lilies that grew here," so that the “excellency" of Sharon became a by-word among the people.

3. The same day we reached the ancient Joppa, now called Jaffa, which is a port on the Mediterranean, about thirty-five miles north-west of Jerusalem. It was in ancient times, and is now, the port of Jerusalem; it was the landing-place of the cedars with which the Temple in that city was built; for Hiram king of Tyre sent a letter to king Solomon, saying, We will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need, and we will bring it thee in floats by sea to Joppa, and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.

4. Jonah took passage in a ship from this place when "he fled from the presence of the Lord;" and it was here that Peter resided, in the house of "Simon the tanner," when he had that wonderful vision which revealed to him the duty of preaching Christianity to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews."

5. We found Jaffa a town of ten thousand inhabitants, one-half of whom are Christians. It is situated on a

a 1 Chron. xxvii. 29.

b Cant. ii. 1.

c Isa. xxxv. 2.

d Acts xi. 5-18.