ASSOCIATIONS-DESCENT FROM MOUNT TABOR. 301 swering well to the description" an high mountain apart." Its level top, about a mile in circumference, covered with groups of fine trees and brushwood, affords a spot of complete retirement in the very midst of the land. If this was really the scene of the Transfiguration, there is a difficulty arising from the fact, that both a fortress and a village once stood on its top, though otherwise it would not be easy to find a spot in this world more suitable for that heavenly transaction. It is a solemn thing to feel that you are treading the very ground on which holy beings have walked; and here we believed we were on ground called by Peter "the holy mount,” * hallowed by the visit of Moses and Elias, by the presence of the transfigured Saviour himself, and by the voice of God the Father, when he spake from the excellent glory, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." Barak assembled his 10,000 men on this hill, in company with Deborah; and in the plain at its foot, not a few learned men have supposed that the armies of Antichrist (gathered together to the place called Armageddon,t) are to be destroyed by the Lamb when the great day of his wrath is come. We would gladly have lingered long upon the summit of Tabor, to meditate over the history of the past and the future, for even when we had nothing but the associations connected with it, we felt it "good to be here." The darkness, however, was rapidly descending and shutting out the view, so that our stay was very short. The moon rose, and by her light our servant guided us down a steep and rocky footpath on the south side, so that we were able, though with some difficulty, to ride down the whole way. But where we were to find Dabourieh we did not know. On reaching the foot of the hill, six or eight men sprang up from the ground on which they were lying, and advanced towards us, each carrying a large club in his hand. We were somewhat alarmed, but were soon relieved by finding out that they were friendly villagers watching their heaps of corn by night, like Boaz in the history of Ruth. They on their part imagined that we were plundering Bedouins, against whose depredations they were watching, and were overjoyed to find that we were mere harmless travellers. it was only now that we began to learn how wonder * 2 Pet. i. 18. † Judg. iv. 14. 302 ESCAPE-VILLAGE OF DABOURIEH. fully our God had preserved and guided us. The villa gers could scarcely believe that we had come over the mountain, for they told us that a band of Arabs were lurking among the woods, and had killed several persons the day before. We knew not how much or how little to believe, but it was evident that we had been saved from danger, and had escaped the hands of the Bedouins, simply in consequence of our leaving the direct road and climbing a part of the hill seldom visited. The darkness, too, which prevented our making a com plete circuit of the hill, had providentially kept us from approaching the retreat of the plunderers. Two of the villagers agreed to conduct us to the village of Dabourieh, which they faithfully performed for a small reward. There we found our servants anxiously looking out for us. They had put up the tent and set a light within it, that we might see the white curtains from a distance; but both they and the villagers had begun to conclude that we had fallen into the hands of the Arabs. Perhaps never before had we felt such gratitude for a deliverance as we did that evening, when seated in our tents in peace and comfort, after the anxieties and alarms of the day. Had we gone round by Dabourieh at first, to obtain a guide, we would then have heard of the danger, but now, without knowing of it, we had been permitted to visit the summit of Tabor in peace. We could see plainly that every step of our way had been_graciously overruled, and that our very difficulties and vexations which had troubled us at the time, were made the means of our safety. The simple villagers of Dabourieh gathering round expressed great astonishment at our escape. We sang praise in our tents with a full heart, in the words of Psalm cxxiv, "Had not the Lord been on our side," &c. (July 17.) During the greater part of the night the wolves and jackals kept up a loud and angry howl, which was responded to by the bark of the village dogs. At morning the clouds were hanging beautifully on the top of Tabor and the adjacent hills, and the sky was covered with a veil of fretted clouds, the first of the kind we had seen in Palestine. It was easy now to understand why Tabor had been so often made a place of rendezvous from the days of Barak and downward,* the hill * Judg. iv. 6, VILLAGES OF ENDOR AND NAIN-BEDOUINS. 303 being so commodious as a place of defence, with a copious supply of water on the very summit, even when the enemy spread themselves on the plain below. From our tent-door we saw across the plain the villages of Endor and Nain, at the foot of Little Hermon. Endor lies under the brow of the hill, and Saul would have an easy road from it to the fountain of Jezreel, at the foot of Gilboa, where his army were encamped.* Nain is further west, and appears to lie still closer under Hermon. We observed cultivated fields, and verdure round it; and it was here that Mr. Calhoun, our American friend, whom we met at Alexandria, found many tombs cut out of the rock, one of which may have been the intended sepulchre of the young man whom Jesus met as they carried him out dead, and restored to the weeping widow. Jesus must have known this spot well, for he would often pass it on his way to the Lake of Galilee. No place in all this land furnishes more remarkable illustrations of the sovereignty of God than do these two villages. At Endor, you see a king in the anguish of despair, consulting with a diviner, and warned by the dead that the Lord had departed from him and become his enemy. But on the same plain, a few miles from Endor, a thousand years after, you see at Nain, "God over all" coming in our nature, and wiping away the tears of a poor widow. Over the western shoulder of Hermon lies Solam, the ancient Shunem, and farther south, near Gilboa, Zerin, the ancient Jezreel; but these we did not see. In the village of Dabourieh itself, one of the first sights that attracted our notice was a group of Bedouins, near kinsmen, no doubt, of the very robbers who had been ranging the hill and keeping the neighbourhood in alarm. Yet here they were sitting at their ease smoking their long pipes, the passing villagers giving them a suspicious. glance that indicated no good will, but nobody daring to challenge them. Could there be a simpler or more striking illustration of the prophecy mentioned before, "His hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him; yet he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren?" One good-natured Bedouin approaching our tent permitted us to sketch him, and smiled when he saw his own likeness. The little yellow shawl over 1 Sam. xxix. 1. + Gen. xvi. 12. the head, and the twisted rope of camel's hair that binds it, are the chief peculiarities of their dress. Close by the village of Dabourieh a small stream flows from the north to join the Kishon. They called it by the same name as the village. This name may possibly be derived from Tabor, at the foot of which it lies; others conjecture that Deborah's exploit in this region, when she accompanied Barak to the hill, may have given name to the town and stream; but still more probably, it is the same as the Levitical city Daberath, which belonged to the tribe of Issachar.* * Josh. xix. 12; xxi. 28. NAZARETH-CONVENT. 305 We left our encampment about nine o'clock, descending from the height on which Dabourieh stands, and travelling in a north-west direction. We soon entered a defile, finely wooded with oak trees and brushwood, often looking back to admire the graceful tapering cone of Mount Tabor. On the top of a hill to the right, appeared a village, Ain Muhil. Our road now lay over limestone hills of a much barer character, until, about two hours from Tabor, we began to descend the slope that leads into the Vale of Nazareth. The town of Nazareth lies on the west side of the valley, on the acclivity of one of the many hills that meet here. The valley has sometimes been compared to a cup; and the hills have all a whitish appearance from the limestone of which they are composed. There are numerous tracks, worn deep in the calcareous rocks, leading from the town in different directions, to neighbouring villages on the other side of the hill. The houses are of a very white stone, and appeared to be more substantial and regularly built than those of other towns of Palestine. The buildings of the Convent are massy, and there is a mosque in the town, adorned with cypress trees. There were no ruins visible, except the remains of an old khan near the entrance of the town. Fig-trees and olives abounded in the gardens, hedged in with prickly pear. The women at the well also appeared to be better dressed, and in more comfortable circumstances than in most other places of the land; and, on the whole, we found Nazareth a more thriving place than we had anticipated. We put up our horses at the khan, which is one of the best specimens we met with of the Eastern inn. The Bazaar, however, was poor, having no great show of things for sale. Cusas and cucumbers, cloths and red shoes, formed the staple commodities. A great many bony-featured Bedouins, with the rope of camel's hair round their head, were loitering about the street. The situation of Nazareth is very retired, and it is said that, on account of this seclusion, the worthless characters of Galilee resorted thither, till at length the town became a proverb for wickedness. In this town, among such a race of men, did the blessed Jesus live thirty years, in calm submission to his Father's will, obeying in obscurity for us. We visited the Convent, and saw all its pretended wonders. We were shown the chamber of the Annunciation, where the angel Gabriel saluted Mary, “Hail, |