How I Spent My Five Weeks' Leave.

entertained at night by the howling - of wild animals . Next day , May loth , we start at seven , and ride to the hill above Tiberias , Avhence Ave get a vieAV of the Avhole sea of Galilee , of the toAvn of

Tiberias , probable site of Capernaum , etc . AH this neighbourhood is deeply interesting as the scene of our Lord ' s ministry . It was here He " came down , " ( Luke iv . 31 , ) after being rejected by the people of Nazareth , who tried to kill Him .

At Capernaum did our Lord heal the demoniac , cure Peter's mother-in-laAV , restore the paralytic , cure the centurion ' s servant , raise the daughter of Jairus , and miraculously obtain the tribute money from the mouth of a fish . Well might our Lord

say " Thou Capernaum shalt be cast doAvn to hell , for if the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom , it would have remained unto this day . " The site of Capernaum is only marked by shapeless heaps of rubbish ,

covered with thorn bushes , and thistles as high as a man on horseback . Chorazm and Bethsaida are in a similar state , fulfilling our Lord ' s

denunciation . Into the Sea of Galilee , ib Avas that the swine rushed headlong ; on it our Lord walked , and caused the miraculous draught of fishes . We climb down about half way to Tiberias , and stop for lunch close to a ivell , under the grateful shade

of a fine fig tree , Avhich has the densest foliage I ever saw . Though it is noon-day one cannot see a ray of light , Avhen reclining , and staring straight up towards the sky . Arab women , sadly spoilt by their execrable tattooing , though otherwise

good looking , come to Avash linen at the spring , and Ave give them oranges , at which they smile , disclosing rows of beautiful pearly teeth . Remounting the hill , Ave make for the right of the

range which embosoms Nazareth , passing Hattin the scene of the fatal blow given to the Crusaders by Saladin . We pass through a little village , said to be Cana of Galilee , where our Lord turned the water into Avine . It is a picturesque spot ,

and the people seem better off , also more cleanly and independent than any Ave have yet seen . We see many really pretty girls returning from the Avell , Avhich is about a quarter of a mile out of the village , carrying on their heads enormous jars of

water , Avhich I should think hold " three or four firkins apiece . " The figures of the girls are much injured by carrying these heavy burdens . Here ( as in more civilised countries ) the ladies make themselves slaves to fashion , and beneath a

blazingsun , wear strings of large coins round their heads , each containing perhaps 200 coins ; this mass of metal must be very heavy , and in the sun it gets quite hot ; neither is there any beauty in the ornament , Avhich hoAvever is intended to display

their Avealth . They wear also numerous coloured bracelets , and clumsy silver anklet rings . In the little valley just beyond this village , we saw clouds of lazy cranes , Avho , startled at our firing a gun , sail round and round us by hundreds . A

long toilsome clamber brings us to a basin among the hills , on the N . W . of which is Nazareth , the home of our Lord ' s childhood . Ib is built on the

side of the hill facing us , and looks very pretty with the tall Avhite minaret of the Mosque . We encamp just outside , close to a Greek Church * built over the " Fountain of the Virgin " where it is said-she received the salution of the angel .

Being late , we have no time to see anything tonight , but next morning I stroll clown to the well , just outside the toAvn , and am much struck by the good looks , and civil independent manner of the maidens , who are there drawing water ; their

complexions are fair and ruddy , and reminded me of those of the people of Bethlehem . I believe it is in both cases to be ascribed to a partly European origin , derived from the Crusaders ; in both places nearly all the inhabitants are Christians . It

is extremely hot , and I do not care to be escorted to see such shrines of superstition as the " Virgin Mary ' s Kitchen " and " Joseph's Workshop " Avhich are mere inventions of the monks , for there was not a Christian inhabitant in Nazareth before

the time of Constantine , nor a pilgrimage to the place , until the sixth century . Iu the seventh century a church was built , on what Avas called the site of the Virgin's house , and yet not till the fifteenth century did they invent the Avonderful

story that the " Holy house in Avhich the Virgin lived , Avas conveyed hence on angel ' s Avings to Italy , and may now be seen on the hill of Lorette ! As this Avas only supposed to occur , in the thirteenth century , Avhen the Crusaders Avere expelled , Avhere Avas the house , all the Avhile till then , from the time the church Avas built on its site in the

seventh century ? Agaiu , how came the kitchen and Avorkshop to be left behind ? Perhaps in their haste , the angels disregarded the outhouses . Mounting our horses , Ave ride to the house of the missionary , who takes us to see a place considered as probably the site Avhence the Jews threatened to throAV our Lord doAA n , which Ave are