this, we certainly should soon have arranged the matter, for then each person would have appropriated the whole of a dish to himself.  In the space of an hour and a quarter nine or ten little dishes made their appearance; but the portion of food contained in each was so small, that our supper may be said to have consisted of a variety of “tastes.”  We would greatly have preferred two good-sized dishes to all these kickshaws.  The dishes were, a roast, a boiled, and a baked chicken, a little plate of prepared cucumbers, an equally small portion of this vegetable in a raw state, a little pilau, and a few small pieces of mutton.

Our host kindly provided food for the mind during supper by describing to us a series of horrible scenes which had occurred at the time of the earthquake.  He, too, had lost his wife and children by this calamity, and only owed his own life to the circumstance that he was absent at a sick-bed when the earthquake took place.

Half an hour after midnight we at length sought our resting-places.  The doctor very kindly gave up his three little bedrooms to us, but the heat was so oppressive that we preferred quartering ourselves on the stones in the yard.  They made a very hard bed, but we none of us felt symptoms of indigestion after our sumptuous meal.

June 16th.

At five o’clock in the morning we took leave of our host, and returned in six hours to Nazareth by the same road on which we had already travelled.  We did not, however, ascend Mount Tabor a second time, but rode along beside its base.  To-day I once more visited all the spots I had seen when I was so ill two days before; in this pursuit I passed some very agreeable hours.

June 17th.

In the morning, at half-past four, we once more bade farewell to the worthy priests of Nazareth, and rode without stopping for nine hours and a half, until at two o’clock we reached

Mount Carmel.

It was long since we had travelled on such a good road as that on which we journeyed to-day.  Now and then, however, a piece truly Syrian in character had to be encountered, probably lest we should lose the habit of facing hardship and danger.  Another comfort was that we were not obliged to-day to endure thirst, as we frequently passed springs of good clear water.  At one time our way even led through a small oak-wood, a phenomenon almost unprecedented in Syria.  There was certainly not a single tree in all the wood which a painter might have chosen for a study, for they were all small and crippled.  Large leafy trees, like those in my own land, are very seldom seen in this country.  The carob, which grows here in abundance, is almost the only handsome tree; it has a beautiful leaf, scarcely larger than that of a rose-tree, of an oval form, as thick as the back of a knife, and of a beautiful bright green colour.