Through Egypt, Palestine and Syria

Front matter

% brough %u|Jt f aksthte anft %rta THROUGH EGYPT PALESTINE AND SYRIA BY REV JOHN KERR CAMPBELL FELLOW OF THE ROYAL PHYSICAL SOCIETY EDINBURGH AUTHOR OF "CHRISTIANITY: ITS POWER AND PROGRESSIVE CHARACTER;" "MATERNAL influence;" "the soul and its powers:" "the vovAci of life;" etc etc LONDON: S W PARTRIDGE & CO TO Clje JstEtnnrrt of tnii fjcloircir ittotljcr. Under whose instrumentality, during my early years, i learned to love and serve him whose life on earth rendered my travelling over the "holy fields" so interesting and pleasant; TO Friends in the Augustine Church, Greenock, WHO IN PAST YEARS SHARED MY TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS; AND TO Jessie, WHO ACCOMPANIED ME, AND SO PLUCKILY, WITHOUT ANY PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE, MOUNTED HER GREY STEED FROM DAY TO DAY, AND RODE OVER THE ROUGHEST ROADS, MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS OF " JUDAH'S LAND," AND WITNESSED ALL THE SCENES AND INCIDENTS DESCRIBED, I geiricatc thie RECORD OF MY GLEANINGS IN EASTERN LANDS, WITH EXPRESSIONS OF SINCERE GRATITUDE TO GOD, "FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW."

Preface

. The following pages contain a descriptive outline of our wanderings, experiences, and observations in Eastern lands. They are simply an extension of the notes, daily and hourly written by the Author on horse back, amid the scenes, towns, villages, peoples, mountains, valleys, and plains described, and with no view to their being published in book form. But on our return home some friends expressed a wish to have a permanent record of our travels, and in proof of that wish being somewhat general, above two hundred copies were subscribed for in the course of a few days. The main design of the volume is to give the reader as lucid a view as possible of the physical features of the lands over which we travelled, in connection with the topographical details and narratives of the Bible. Future travellers who may adopt the same route, and who like ourselves may have only a Biblical interest, may be aided and interested by means of the Scripture references given. The Author, having no pet theory to

PREFACE.

. support and no doubtful questions of history to settle, has simply described all as he found them, and compared them with the teachings of the Book. Whilst writing his notes on horseback, the Author's only sources of reliable information were Baedeker and the Bible ; but in extending the notes for the press he has availed himself of corroborative information from the Reports of the Exploration Society and from the published reports of former travellers ; but, with the exception of one or two disputed sites, he has avoided all points of controversy. Stirling, 1884. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. From Stirling To Alexandria

THE JOURNEY — STIRLING TO LONDON — LONDON TO PARIS — IMPRES- SIONS OF FRANCE — MARSEILLES — THE TOWN AND HARBOUR — NOTRE DAME DE LA GARDE — VIEW OF ISCHIA — PUTEOLI — NAPLES — MOUNT VESUVIUS — POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM — RHEGIUM — STRAITS OF MESSINA — STROMBOLI — MOUNT ETNA — CHARYBDIS AND SCYLLA — DIVINE SERVICE ON BOARD — PEN PORTRAITS OF THE PARTY, 11

Chapter II. From Alexandria To Cairo

FIRST SIGHT OF THE COAST OF AFRICA — IMPRESSIONS OF ALEXANDRIA — SCENE ON LANDING — THE GRAND HOTEL ABATT — POMPEY's PILLAR AND CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE — ANCIENT GREATNESS OF ALEXANDRIA — RUINS OF THE RECENT WAR — COSTUMES OF THE PEOPLE — JOURNEY TO CAIRO — BEDOUIN ALONG THE CANAL BANK AND FELLAHEEN — FIRST SIGHT OF THE PYRAMIDS — HOTEL DU NIL — STREETS AND PEOPLE OF CAIRO — THE CITADEL AND ALABASTER MOSQUE — HOWLING AND WHIRLING DERVISHES — THE ISLAND OF RHODA — THE KHEDIVE'S PALACES — MOSLEM UNI VERSITY — PROTESTANT SCHOOLS — SABBATH SERVICES — DRIVE TO THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZAH — THE ASCENT — WHY ERECTED — BOULAC MUSEUM — DRIVE TO HELIOPOLIS — TREE OF THE VIRGIN — OSTRICH FARM — OLD CAIRO — FUNERAL PROCESSION — CRYING CONTENTS. VI PAGE MUEZZINS — FOOTMEN RUNNERS — COMICAL JOURNEY TO PYRA MIDS OF SAKHARA — OUR DONKEY EXPERIENCES — THE WORK OF THE OPPRESSED ISRAELITES — SCENE OF THEIR JOURNEY OUT OF EGYPT— CROSSING THE NILE — FAREWELL TO CAIRO, - - - 29

Chapter III. From Cairo To Jerusalem

THROUGH THE LAND OF GOSHEN — TREsVSURE CITIES OF PHARAOH — TEL EL KEBIR — ENGLISH CEMETERY — ISMAILIA — THE LITTLE STEAMER — SUEZ CANAL— PORT SAID — THE CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE — A STRANGE BED ON BOARD — FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE MOUNTAINS OF JUDEA — IMPRESSIONS OF JOPPA — HORRIBLE STREETS — MR. HOWARD AND HIS HOTEL — SCRIPTURAL REFER ENCES—MISS ARNOTT'S SCHOOL — MISS MANGAN's HOSPITAL — ORANGE GROVES — SELECTING OUR HORSES — SERIOUS ACCIDENT — THE PLAIN OF SHARON — OUR JOURNEY ON HORSEBACK TO VALLEY OF AJALON — OUR FIRST NIGHT IN TENTS— A GRUMBLE — KIRJsVTH JEARIM — THE VALLEY OF ELAH AND THE VILLAGE OF EMMAUS — SCRIPTURE REFERENCES — MIZPEH — TOMB OF SAMUEL — FIRST SIGHT OF JERUSALEM — THE CAMPING GROUND, - - - 57

Chapter IV. Jerusalem And Its Environs

JERUSALEM — "CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE" — A COMICAL MORNING PARADE — JOURNEY TO JERICHO — MOUNT OF OLIVES GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE — BETHANY AND TOMB OF LAZARUS DOWN TO JERICHO — KHAN OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN " THE BROOK CHERITH" AND "VALLEY OF ACHOR " — PLAIN OF GILGAL — ARAB SONG AND DANCE — BATH IN THE JORDAN — THE DEAD SEA — ARAB HONESTY — JOURNEY TO MAR SABA — SCRIPTURE CONTENTS. VII PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SHEPHERD AND SHEEP — REBEKAH AT THE WELL — FIRST SIGHT OF BETHLEHEM— SCRIPTURE REFER ENCES — THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY — THE WELL OF BETH LEHEM — THE POOLS OF SOLOMON — RACHEL'S GRAVE — PLAIN OF REPHAIM— THE WELL OF JOSEPH AND MARY — THE GREY WALLS OF JERUSALEM, 72

Chapter V. Jerusalem

WALK ROUND THE WALLS — DIVINE SERVICE ON 'MOUNT ZION — THE MOSQUE OF OMAR AND SUBSTRUCTURES OF THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON — THE MOUNT OF OLIVES AND THE GARDEN OF GETH SEMANE — THE POOLS OF SILOAM AND BETHESDA — THE VIA DOLOROSA — THE GROTTO OF JEREMIAH AND GOLGOTHA — THE JEWS' WAILING PLACE, ETC, ETC, 88

Chapter VI. Jerusalem To Samaria

ON THE WAY TO BETHEL — A STORM — SCRIPTURE REFERENCES — WHERE JOSEPH AND MARY MISSED THE CHILD JESUS — A QUEER HOUSE — JACOB EXPERIENCES — CONTINUANCE OF THE STORM — TENTS TUMBLING — SHILOH, THE SCENE OF SAMUEL'S EARLY YEARS— FOUNTAIN OF THE LEVITES — GLIMPSES OF GERIZIM AND EBAL — VALLEY OF SHECHEM — JACOB'S WELL — HALLOWED SPOT — HOLY MEMORIES — JESUS AT THE WELL — JOUKNEY TO NABLOUS — PARTY DISPERSED — WAY LOST — SAMARITAN SYNAGOGUE — TORAH MSS. — JACOB'S MOURNING PLACE — SCENE OF JOTHAM's PARABLE — THE MISSIONARY IN THE HANDS OF THE BEDOUIN — LODGING WITH MONKS — OFF TO SAMARIA — VALLEY OF NABLOUS — SPLENDID CROPS— FERTILITY OF SOIL, - - . CONTENTS. PAGE

Chapter VII. Samaria To Nazareth

SAMARIA AS AN HEAP OF THE FIELD — SCRIPTURE REFERENCES — HISTORICAL SCENES — VIEW FROM THE HILL — DOTHAN — THE SCENE OF THE CONSPIRACY AGAINST JOSEPH — FIRST VIEW OF THE HILLS OF GALILEE — EN-GANNIM — CROAKING FROGS AND YELPING DOGS — TURKISH ARMY — THE GREAT PLAIN OF ESDRA ELON — JEZREEL — NABOTH 'S VINEYARD — HISTORICAL SCENES AND SCRIPTURE REFERENCES — "GILBOA AMONG THE MOUNTAINS, AND CARMEL BY THE SEA " — THE SCENE OF GIDEON'S EXPLOITS — GIDEON'S FOUNTAIN — TWO COMICAL INCIDENTS — SHUNEM — WILD-LOOKING BEDOUIN — MOUNT TABOR — NAIN: WHY INTEREST ING — AWKWARD EFFORTS GETTING UP THE HILL TO NAZARETH — SERIOUS ACCIDENT — VERY FATIGUED — WALK THROUGH NAZA RETH — PRICKLY-PEAR EXPERIENCE — HOLY SCENES AND SACRED ASSOCIATIONS — NOTES OF SERMON ON "HOLY LAND," - - 132

Chapter VIII. From Nazareth To The Sea Of Galilee

CANA OF GALILEE — THE BIRTH-PLACE OF JONAH— THE CRUSADERS' BATTLE-FIELD — MOSLEM CONQUEST — FIRST SIGHT OF THE SEA OF GALILEE — SOLEMN FEELINGS- SCRIPTURE REFERENCES — SUR- ROUNDINGS OF THE LAKE — THE MOUNT OF BEATITUDES FISHERMEN FISHING— FILTHY STATE OF TIBERIAS— BATH IN THE SEA— THE HOT BATHS OF TIBERIAS— SAIL ON THE SEA TO TELL HUM — MAGDALA — CAPERNAUM — DIFFERENT KINDS OF NETS THE MOST INTERESTING RUINS IN THE WORLD— AFTERNOON'S FISHING AND BATHING— CAMPING ON THE RUINS OF BETHSAIDA —CHORAZIN, jg. CONTENTS. IX PAGE

Chapter IX. From Gennesareth To Baneas

FAREWELL TO THE LAKE — THE CITY SET UPON AN HILL — UNDER THE SHADOW OF A TREE — THE WATERS OF MEROM — THE HILLS OF NAPHTALI — THE BATTLE-FIELD OF JABIN — CITIES OF REFUGE — TEL EL KADI, OR THE HILL OF DAN— SITE OF JEROBOAM'S TEMPLE — THROUGH THE GLADES TO CÆSAREA PHILIPPI— MOUNT HERMON — SCRIPTURE REFERENCES— -WHAT IS THE MEANING OF "HERMON'S DEW"? — IS HERMON THE MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURA- TION ? — SOME SUGGESTIONS — THE TEMPLE OF PAN — THE NORTH- ERN FRONTIER OF PALESTINE — THE SOURCE OF THE JORDAN — CHRIST AT CESAREA PHILIPPI — TOWN OF BANEAS — THE HIGH- LANDS OF PALESTINE OR SYRIA, - 176

Chapter X. From Baneas To Damascus

five thousand feet up mount hermon — encamped in the neighbourhood of snow — hermon lava — the river pharpar — surrounded by arabs — the halt, maimed, and diseased laid at our feet — an attempt to steal frustrated — on the way to damascus — the traditional spot of saul's conversion — hotel dimetri — Damascus of the past — the site of the garden of eden — the home of "eliezer of damascus" — hazael — the captive maid — naaman — the importance of saul's conversion as an evidence of the truth of christianity — lord lyttelton's ILLUSTRATipN, - - - - I'JO X CONTENTS. PAGE

Chapter XI. Home From Damascus

DAMASCUS OF THE PRESENT — A GREAT TREK — THE BAZAARS — THE MASSACRE OF 1860 — THREE SABBATHS IN THE WEEK — COST OF LIVING— A SABBATH IN DAMASCUS— JEWISH DIFFICULTY AND MISSIONARY EFFORTS — WHAT JEWS AND MOSLEMS THINK OF JESUS — THE IMPORTANCE OF MEDICAL MISSIONS — VISIT TO THE GREAT MOSQUE— VIEW FROM THE MINARET — "THE STREET THAT IS CALLED STRAIGHT" THE HOUSE OF NAAMAN — THE ESCAPE OF PAUL IN A BASKET — " POLISHED BARBARIANS" — FAREWELL — OVER THE LEBANON — SCRIPTURE REFERENCES — BEYROUT AND ITS SURROUNDINGS — HOSPITALS AND BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS — ALONG THE SEA COAST — SIDON AND TYRE — MOUNT CARMEL — JAFFA— HOMEWARDS— QUARANTINE AT MAR SEILLES—A BULKY LADY — PARIS — LONDON— HOME, - - - THROUGH EGYPT PALESTINE AND SYRIA

Chapter I. From Stirling To Alexandria

THE JOURNEY — STIRLING TO LONDON — LONDON TO PARIS — IMPRESSIONS OF FRANCE — MARSEILLES — THE TOWN AND HARBOUR — NOTRE DAME DE LA GARDE — VIEW OF ISCHIA — PUTEOLI — NAPLES — MOUNT VESU VIUS —POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM — RHEGIUM — STRAITS OF MESSINA — STROMBOLI — MOUNT ETNA — CHARYBDIS AND SCYLLA — DIVINE SERVICE ON BOARD — PEN PORTRAITS OF THE PARTY. UR journey to Palestine, in the spring of 1884 was the outcome of a long cherished desire. Early in life we learned to sing of " the glorious land of Canaan," and in the course of years, as we became familiar with the teaching of the Book, the Land became increasingly interesting to us. While often trying to describe the sacred scenes of the Book in connection with the geography of the sacred localities, we felt as if the " holy fields " were no longer " as a landscape to a blind man's eye;" but oft in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din of towns and cities, sources of " sensations sweet."

Still our desire was to turn these delights into something like substantial realities by walking over the " holy acres." Accordingly, when told that the state of my health was such as to require immediate rest, I consulted my " better half," and we both agreed and resolved at once to go to see the " Land of Canaan." But how are we to go ? was asked. Shall we go round by the Mediterranean coast and get a steamer at the Bed Sea or Port Said for one of the Syrian ports ; or, shall we go overland, via Paris, to Marseilles and get a steamer there for Joppa or Beyrout ? We decided on the latter course. We solicited and readily obtained programmes of several Oriental tourist contractors ; and after a considerable amount of corres pondence with each, that of Messrs. Henry Gaze & Sons, London, was adopted.

And, now that the journey is accomplished, we have no hesitation in saying that these gentlemen carried out their programme in first-class style — of course at a first-class price — and to our entire satisfaction. Not a little of this satisfaction was greatly owing to their highly--qualified Oriental conductor, Mr. Crunden. We knew from several sources that without a fairly good command of the French language our plea sures on the Continent would be reduced to zero, and that without a knowledge of Arabic they would be almost nil in Egypt and Syria. We resolved therefore to go with a personally-conducted party, and so be free from all botherations. The moment we were assured that Messrs. Gaze & Sons' representative, Mr. Crunden, would go with us all the way and rid us of all trouble with respect to passports, railway trains and steamboats, luggage backsheesh, hotels and custom-house officials, dragomans and means of conveyance through the deserts, &c, &c., we gave the required deposit of 15 per ceDt. on the total cost, and got registered.

Soon after, we sent a cheque for £200, and promised to pay the balance when we reached London. BOULOGNE. Early in the month of March, and on a bitter cold morning, with snow on the hills and sleet battering around us, we left the " City of the Eock " by the 9.30 train for London. We were cheered by the presence of some of our parishioners and friends who gathered at the station to give us their parting salaam. The journey between Stirling and London and between London and Paris is too well known to require any statement or description at our hands. Suffice it to say that we safely arrived in London about 9 o'clock in the evening of the same day, and that cabby drove us to Ashley's Hotel, Covent Gardens. By 10 o'clock the following morningwe were at Charing Cross Station, and by 11 o'clock we were off from London and caught the tidal express steamer at Folkestone for Boulogne.

While crossing the Channel, many of our fellow pas sengers were terribly overcome by sea sickness ; but on reaching the French terra firma all were amazingly ready for a hearty7 meal at the Hotel de l'Europe. Here we got our first taste of Continental hubbub. On entering the hotel we saw well-spread tables, not in boxes " cribb'd, cabin'd, confin'd," but laid out from end to end of the spacious hall. For a time everybody seemed to be speaking, shouting, and gesticulating to everybody else, and everybody else was taking the whole thing as a matter of course. The noise was terrific, and the apparent disorder was that of Babel. In about 10 minutes we had all settled down into a calm, our mouths being filled with the substantial realities on the table; and in 15 minutes more we bad resumed our journey to Paris.

We saw nothing very remarkable to note either in or around Boulogne, except a few statues and churches to the honour of the "Patron Lady," and a column nearly 200 feet high, on a height near the Channel, to com memorate the intended invasion of England by Napoleon I. We were told that the population of Boulogne is about 55,000, and that several thousands of that number are English, who prefer the French side of the Channel to their own. Boulogne is 130 miles from London, including 30 miles the breadth of the Channel, and is about 200 miles from Paris. We arrived in Paris about 9.30 o'clock, and after the usual formalities with our luggage, we were driven to the Hotel Burgundy. Here we were joined by one or two of the party who had left London a few days before us. Never having visited the capital of France before, we were naturally anxious to verify somewhat of the reports we had got of its greatness and grandeur; and though our time was limited, both going and returning, we saw enough to warrant our saying that " the half was not told."

Paris is truly a magnificent city. Its palatial residences, public and other buildings, far exceed, in architectural proportions, taste and beauty, any we have ever seen. We visited several public buildings, museums, and picture galleries, and we felt astounded at the beauty and genius displayed. We were agreeably disappointed with the personal appearance and intelligent features of the Parisians generally. The shopkeepers evince excellent taste in displaying their goods in the windows. We were surprised to find almost all the cafes crowded with respectably-dressed men drinking liqueurs and play ing at dominoes at all hours of the day. It is to us a FRENCH RAILWAYS. 15 mystery how so many men can afford so to live, or that it does not occur to them, superficial in thought though they be, that such a mode of existence is contrary to the first principles of common-sense.

But such is life among the Parisians and in all the populous towns of Fiance. Bail way officials manage their business well ; but, in some respects, differently from what we are accustomed to in Scotland and in England. Human life and limbs are evidently as much objects of consideration and care in France as they are with ourselves ; but the comforts and convenience of tourists and travellers are not so much attended to. Whatever box, parcel, or package you mayhave, you must carry it off as best you can. Porters, who are employed by the railway company for a few francs per week, stand idly by until you engage them and give them to know that you mean to pay them. If they suspect that your luggage contains any contra band articles, they will not scruple to give you trouble in exposing on the custom-house table all the contents of your trunk.

Their suspicion may be aroused or allayed by the way in which you answer the question : — " N'avez vous rien a declarer . " We were happily freed from all the bothers of the railway stations and custom-house officials, on the eastward journey, by the presence and ability of our conductor ; but we experienced not a few of them on the return journey. We left Paris for Marseilles, a distance of about 540 miles, on Wednesday morning, 5th March, by one of the most rapid trains on the " Paris, Lyons, and Mediterranean Bailway." We had daylight nearly all the way; the country was lovely ; the weather was warm, but not hot, so that we enjoyed the journey very much. Our carriage, though rolling swiftly, rolled smoothly as on oiled rails. We conversed, without difficulty, on science and politics, social economy, religion, and other subjects, and so wiled the time away.

The train stopped at several of the larger stations. We were allowed twenty minutes at two of them for refreshment. The whole country, with its fertile plains, vineyards, and vine-clothed slopes, beautiful valleys, and rich agricultural holdings, presented a marked contrast to our own country, and especially to the surroundings of our home as we saw them only three days before. Lyons, with its famous silk and other manufactories, presented an extensive and magnificent appearance. It stands on the banks of the Bhone and Saone, and these rivers are spanned by a large number of splendid-looking bridges. From Lyons to the great seaport of France, the country looked still more beautiful, and the weather became still more warm, and at 10 o'clock at night we felt it to be as genial as any summer evening at home.

We reached Marseilles — the Liverpool of France — about 12.30 o'clock, and drove to the "Grand Hotel de Marseille." The following morning we were driven to see the sights of the city, which are many and various, and by 12 noon we were on board the grand steamer Pluese. A few minutes after the advertised time to start the gangways were taken away, the signal was given for the engines to move, and we began slowly to leave the harbour. What a magnificent bay, and how grandly the city appears on the rising slopes behind ! The harbour seems a natural basin, and ships of the greatest tonnao-e and of all nations float in the deep-blue water. It is defended by strong and splendidly-built fortifications. The city of Marseilles is said to contain a population of NOTRE DAME DE LA GARDE. 17 about 400,000 of all kindreds, nations, peoples, and tongues.

On one of the highest hills to our left we noticed the fort and chapel of the " Patron Lady " — Notre Dame de la Garde. Every ship that passes out or comes into the harbour must acknowledge the signals of the Virgin's chapel. Our flags were moved up and down as if in response to the flag of the chapel, and some sailors, we noticed, as if in profound reverence for these signals, took off their bonnets and bowed their heads. These movements coutinued till we were fully out of the harbour. Beautifully situated on the left of the bay stands the magnificent palace erected for the late Emperor, but, so far as we know, it has never been occupied, owing to the fall of the Empire. The sea outside the harbour was perfectly calm ; the sky was clear and the air bracing. The sea coast to our left was visible till about seven o'clock in the evening, and we could easily trace the positions of Toulon, Nice, and Genoa.

What we failed to see going we did not fail to see returning; such as the Straits of Bonifacio, the Islands of Corsica and Sardinia, and Caprera, the lonely island home of the late heroic Garibaldi. We steamed into the famous Bay of Naples early on Saturday morning, and were soon at breakfast in a magnificent hotel facing Puteoli and the recently-submerged town of Ischia. We were thrilled as we looked towards Puteoli, though now a fisherman's village of no repute, for it was there that Paul, " the Great Apostle of the Gentiles," landed after his perilous sea voyage towards Borne. Our time being limited, we had to make the best of it by locomotion in carriages to see the most prominent B objects of interest in the town and its neighbourhood. We remembered our " Ramsay's Roman Antiquities " and some of the scenes so graphically given in Virgil's Æneid and Horace; and we thought that had we seen the material objects on which we here gazed, ere reading these books, the scenes and antiquities described in them would have been better understood.

In the palmy days of the Roman Empire, Naples and its neighbourhood, with the luxurious residences of Cæsar and Cicero, Pliny and Pompey, of poets and philosophers, statesmen and stageplayers, must have been regarded as a perfect earthly paradise. From the material grandeur of the bay, its vine and villa-clad slopes, strangely formed mounds and rocks, the Island of Capri beyond, with its palatial edifices of Tiberias and its Lake Avernus, Homer and Horace and Virgil must have drawn not a little of their inspiration. For many years Virgil lived and wrote bis Georgics within full view of these material scenes ; and we do not wonder that he should have expressed a desire to be buried, not at Brundusium, where he died, but here on the slopes of Naples. The traditional site of the tomb is pointed out by the remains of a dismantled arch, and is said to be now the rendezvous of thieves and robbers.

At every opening of the streets, Mount Vesuvius presented itself to our gaze. This is the wildest, grandest, and most dismal object in the neighbourhood of Naples. The mountain rises to a height of between 4000 and 5000 feet, but its original height was considerably higher. The crater is said to be a yawning gulf about three miles in circumference ; and from it a perpetual cloud of smoke and steaming columns rise and disperse into the atmosphere, so that the top of the mount is seldom visible. CHAPTER IN ANCIENT HISTORY. 19 In the reign of Titus, in the year 79 of the Christian era, Vesuvius suddenly burst into a mountain of fire, and poured out its contents upon the unsuspecting cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii, at its base. Tacitus, the Boman historian, records two epistles from Pliny the Younger, describing the circumstances and the scenes of the eruption, as the latter saw and contemplated them from a distance.

Pliny the naturalist, and uncle to the author of these letters, had gone from Misenum — a town which we saw on the hill-side facing the sea, and about twenty miles from Vesuvius — to witness the dreadful scene, and out of compassion he resolved to aid the suffering; but overcome by blasts of the suffocating gases he perished among the victims of the awful disaster. The cities were covered to a depth of from sixty to a hundred feet beneath the molten mass. They were discovered in 1748, and ever since have been objects of exploration and interest to scientific experts, classical scholars, and antiquaries. No chapter of ancient history can be more interesting than the one furnished by the objects exca vated from these long buried cities. From that chapter we learn how men lived, and in what sort of houses they lived : what sort of food they ate, and drinks they drank, and what domestic utensils they employed.

We read that chapter with keen interest in the museums. If any proof were requisite for the truth of several passages of Holy Writ we had it there. There we saw how men lived and laboured, and the materials they employed, in the year 79 of our era. There is scarce anything done, or in common use among ourselves now, that was not then quite as familiar to the Eomans of Pompeii and Herculaneum ! After visiting the sights of Naples, we returned to the Pluese to resume our journey. In a few hours we reached the Straits of Messina, with the coast of Italy on our left and that of Sicily on our right. As we approached the famous Charybdis and Scylla, it looked as if we were to steam into the Italian hills ; but suddenly the Pluese turned to the right, and then we were between the jutting rocks of Scylla and the whirlpools of Charybdis.

The distance between the two shores seemed to us to be even less than a mile. A few miles further on we saw on the sea shore the city of Messina. This was the seaport in which Pliny the Elder had charge of the Roman fleet, and from which he beheld the eruption of Vesuvius. Nearly opposite, on our left, we gazed with interest at the town of Rhegium, to which Paul and his companions " fetched a compass from Syracuse" (Acts xxviii. 13). After passing Stromboli in active labour, and towering above us to a height of 3,000 feet, we soon descried Mount Etna, rising to a height of 10,800 feet, but it was to some extent invisible by the wreaths of smoke which issued from its cone, and hung around it. Soon terra firma and all such objects of interest disappeared from our view, and we were driven to think and " crack " about matters within the region of our floating house.

On the Saturday evening we began to consider whether we could have divine service on board on the morrow, and, if so, what three of the perfect number (we were seven ministers strong) should conduct it. We could not forget that we were floating under a Popish (not a Protestant) flag, and that the captain, as a true son of the Holy Mother Church, might possibly hinder such heretical exercises. I proposed that our conductor be requested to ask the captain if he would object to our DIVINE SERVICE ON BOARD. 21 having such a service. He soon returned, and told us that upon no consideration would he grant leave to have a Protestant service on board. After a time, however, he said if we went to the stern of the ship on deck he would promise to take no notice of us. We were glad to have this much negative liberty, whereupon it was proposed that I should preach the sermon, and that representatives of other denominations should take part.

I declined to preach, and proposed that a Congregational minister should do so. This he agreed to do, on the understanding that I would preach somewhere in Galilee. This I promised to do. A great coil of rope at the stern of the boat was selected as Mr. A.'s pulpit and reading desk, and around him gathered the most select and catholic audience he ever preached to. I began the service by reciting the One Hundredth Psalm, and leading the singing with all my might, while the audience joined heartily. The Rev. Dr. H., Dublin, read the Church of England prayers ; the Rev. Canon C. K. read the lessons for the day ; and the Rev. Mr. A. preached a sermon on "Paul's journey to Rome." It was pleasing to contemplate the unity in variety exhibited in that audience, and that all had enjoyed the service.

There were staunch Presbyterians there, not a few, from America and Scotland ; Episcopalians, nearly as many, from England and Ireland and New Zealand ; Congregationalists, Baptists, " a Plymouth sister," a member of the " Salvation Army," one or two Coptic Christians, and at least one Roman Catholic lady. A matron-superior of the Romish Church was sitting at the stern of the ship when the service was about to begin, and on being told of our purpose, she promptly said, " Oh ! why should I go away ?" and so she sat still, and paid much attention. In the evening a Presbyterian service was conducted by myself and other ministers, in a somewhat reverse order, but at the same place, and we trust with as good and happy results. The following day we began to weary somewhat, owing to the monotony of our floating existence.