CHAPTER VIII.

TROUBLE WITH GUIDES-MONASTERY OF ST. GEORGE-RIVER OF JOSEPHUS- TRICKERY OF MONKS - ANSYREEH PILGRIMSCASTLE OF EL-HUSN-AFFABLE GOVERNOR-FRINGE OF GOLD -BREAKFAST WITH WANDERING TRIBE-PLAIN OF HOMSHOMS-VIOLENT DERVISHES-ANCIENT THRESHING INSTRUMENT-OBSTINACY OF JACKASS-RIBLEH-AMICABLE COLONY -TALKATIVE PRIEST-HERMEL-SOURCE OF ORONTES-REMARKABLE MONUMENT-ILLNESS OF MULETEER-MISS THE

CEDARS-METAWALEE SHEIKH-TEARS OF A MOTHER-RETURN TO BEYROUT.

HAVING provided ourselves with some of the Sheikh's coarse, but sweet bread, we left for Kulat-el-Husn, escorted by one of his men, who left us at the first village, and placed us under the charge of a man who, in his turn, walked with us for about an hour to the nearest village, and then committed us to the guidance of another to conduct us on our way. My muleteer was, with justice, afraid that our guides would not be careful to lead us in the most direct road, choosing rather that which would soonest bring them to the end of their

stage, and enable them to deliver us up to the tender mercies of their successor. But he could not say much, for the answer, of course, know the road better than me,

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was, If you
why do you compel me to go with

you?" The road lay along a series of hills, passing several towers, and leaving the tower of Saffeeta, which was once held by the Assassins, at some distance on one hand. The villages to which we came were inhabited by Ansyreeh, who seemed a very rough and uncivilized set. With great difficulty we obtained the requisite succession of guides; and in one case, where the distance was rather far, it was all we could do to keep our conductor from taking to flight.

At length we came to a Christian village, where there was an abundance of vineyards, of which, unfortunately, they had just gathered the produce, and were pressing it to make the grape honey or dibs. Under a tree was sitting an old gentleman, the Sheikh of the village, who seemed exceedingly well to do, and was watching the threshers engaged at his wellstocked floors. He immediately, with the utmost feigned politeness and servility, acceded to my request for a guide, and sent a young man with us, to whom he gave a secret order

to go with us only just without the limits of the village; so when he came to, the spot he made off, not without being put in a desperate fright by the muleteer, who seized hold of him as if about to take him by force. The fact is that, so insecure is the country, and so fearful are the people of being taken as conscripts, the idea of going a few miles is quite terrifying, and this accounts for the difficulty which we encountered. As the castle was in sight, we could now depend on ourselves and inquiry from passers-by, and were thus, to my great comfort, released from all further necessity of interfering with the liberty of the subject.

Proceeding onwards we arrived at another Christian village, where the people were also engaged in threshing the produce of the neighbouring fields, all of which belonged to the convent of St. George, situated in the valley commanded by the kulat, or castle, which I have mentioned. This convent, which has the reputation of being the richest in Syria, derives its fame not only from its name, which, as is well known, is in universal repute in Syria, but also from a most powerful intermittent spring, which, bursting forth from the foot of a limestone mountain, fills a large cave in an

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instant, and then flows down the valley in such force that it sometimes carries away the mulberry-trees which it meets with in its course, and deserves the name of a river. The ignorant inhabitants of Syria ascribe its flow to the efficacy of the prayers of the monks of St. George; and in consequence the monastery is a place of pilgrimage, not only to Christians but to the Ansyreeh, and even some Mahometans. The spring, or river, derives an interest from the fact that it is probably the one referred to by Josephus, in his Wars of the Jews,' lib. vii., ch. v., where he says that "Titus saw a river which remained dry for six days and flowed on the Sabbath." Pliny refers to the river of Josephus, but his statement concerning it differs, in that he says that it flowed for six days and rested on the Sabbath. Mr. Thomson, one of the American missionaries in Syria, in a paper inserted by him in a collection of lectures delivered at Beyrout, seems to prove that the spring in question is the river referred to by Josephus and Pliny, of the whereabouts of which there has been much controversy. At present the duration and times of its flow are uncertain; the facts which I was able to discover with respect to it

being, that it breaks out more often in summer than in winter, and that the periods of its cessation are longer than those of its action.

Not far off lies the monastery, which, though a large and well-built edifice, cannot compare in size or the picturesqueness of its parts and position with the other Greek convents of Mount Sinai and Mar Saba. Placing my carpet on the ground outside, I made a cursory survey of part of the interior. A handsome carved pulpit in the chapel was the only thing I saw deserving attention. The stories were piled on one another, and there was a close, unpleasant smell on the staircases and in the passages.

My servant told me maniacs with large iron

that he saw two collars round their

necks, connected with a chain which passed through a window into an adjoining apartment. These poor wretches are thus left for a time, and if they recover they are released, or rather St. George releases them; it being considered as a proof that they are incurable, if after a certain time their chains do not fall off of their own accord.

The good monks are up to another trick. The entrance to the convent is through an