to say, he wished us to come and take a cup of coffee with him, and answer a few questions. We went. The governor took my firman to examine its date, and then questioned me very particularly how long I had been in this country, what places I had visited, and how long I had remained in each place. His secretary took down my answers, in order to be sent to the pasha. The governor then read an order from the pasha, stating that, as we had a firman from the sultan, we must not be imprisoned, or molested in any way; but for his more perfect information, a copy of the firman, and samples of the books, must be sent to Damascus. My firman was accordingly sent to the judge to be copied and returned the next day.

"The next morning we sent Joseph with the books to be sent to the pasha. About two hours after this, the roaring of cannon announced the sudden arrival of a new governor to take command of the city. In the afternoon Joseph went to the palace for the firman, but the former governor and all his attendants had disappeared, and nobody knew any thing about our affairs. On applying to the judge for the document, he said he had not seen it, and knew nothing about it. He however sent for his secretary who produced it. "Tell the gentlemen,' says the judge on giving up the firman, 'that the governor's business is now finished. There is no need of copying the firman. Whenever they have time, I shall be glad to have them call, and take a cup of coffee with me.' The day that this happened, we sold fifty copies of the Scriptures, and the day following fifty-four copies. When Mr. Abbott heard what had befallen us, he made a representation of the affair to the pasha of Damascus, and received a bugurdy, or official order, addressed to the judge and governor of Jerusalem, commanding, that whatever had been taken from us should be immediately restored, and that we should be protected and

treated with respect. When this order was presented to the new governor, he returned to us the books, which were to have been sent to the pasha, and said, that although he was not personally concerned in the affair, yet if we had lost any thing whatever he would pay for it. The report was circulated in Jerusalem, and believed by many, both Mussulmans and Christians, that the former governor was turned out of office in consequence of his ill treatment of us. Since our arrival at Beyroot, we have learned that the ex-governor, on his return to Damascus, complained that he had lost his office through the influence of the judge, because he did not imprison us, as the judge commanded.

"We have no means of ascertaining what is true in this case, but I believe all parties regretted that they had meddled with us, and I believe that a general impression was made, that men under English protection are not to be trifled with. In the view of the Christians and Jews, it was no small matter, that we were able to refuse money to Turks, who had us in their hands. I think the Turks of Jerusalem will be less likely to molest us now, than before this happened. The Latins will probably continue to excite the Turks against us by all the means in their power. May God cause their wrath to praise him, and restrain the remainder of it. It is worthy of remark, that during the whole process, the Turks made no objection to the distribution of Christian books among Christians. The whole complaint was founded on the testimony of the papists, that our books were not Christian books, but false books. When the judge and the governor told us this, we demanded that they should send to the Latin convent, and bring an Arabic Bible to compare with ours, but this they both refused to do. They hoped, no doubt, that money would have been given them. We are much indebted to Mr. Abbott for his prompt and efficient interference in this

case, as well as for a thousand civilities in other instances."

Mr. Fisk speaks of the oppressive system of Turkish exactions, under which the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the neighboring villages were groaning. He mentions an affray which took place between the government of Jerusalem, and the villages in the neighborhood of Bethlehem, in consequence of their refusing to meet the exorbitant demands made upon them.

"Preparations were accordingly made for war. Some of the governor's soldiers found a poor, infirm old peasant, from Bait Jallah cultivating his field. One of them shot him, and they cut off his head, brought it to Jerusalem, and stuck it up on the wall just within Jaffa gate, where it remained two days. I saw Turkish boys pass by and throw stones at it. Christians looked at it with a melancholy countenance, and tears stole down their cheeks. The 30th of December the governor's troops moved out of town with three pieces of cannon, and proceeded against Bait Safafa, the nearest of the villages, and situated in the valley of the Rephaims. It is within sight of Jerusalem, on the south-west. They pitched their tents on the plain, and commenced firing on the village. The villagers fired upon them in return, from behind walls, rocks and hills. Several were killed on both sides, but I could not ascertain how many. I walked over Mount Zion toward evening, and saw the red flag flying, and the smoke of their cannon, as they fired on the little village. Night closed the action, and the next day being rainy the soldiers returned to the city."

In company with Mr. Damiani, Mr. Fisk and his fellow missionaries visited Hebron, and passed Bethlehem, on their way, where they lodged one night.

"Feb. 25. We set out early in the morning for Hebron. In one hour we came to the cisterns of Solomon, so called. They are three in number,

and are situated on the side of a hill. We found the upper one to be 134 paces long, and 76 wide at one end, and 85 at the other. The second is 153 by 54 and 88. The third is 205 by 49 and 71. "They are lined with wall and plastered, and contain water.' Jerusalem is supplied in part by an aqueduct, which, we are told, carries its water from these cisterns. 'Close by the pools is a castle of modern structure.' From this place our way is over stony ground and rocky mountains, generally covered with bushes and shrubbery. No villages appeared, and there is not a single house on the road between Bethlehem and Hebron. Some of the way there is cultivated ground. We passed several fields of grain just springing up. As is common throughout Syria, they were entirely without fences. The vineyards alone were enclosed. We were a little more than five hours in riding from Bethlehem to Hebron, and our course was considerably west of south. We had a letter of introduction from Rabbi Mendel to the Jews of Hebron, and with them we took lodgings.

"Hebron is now called Haleel Rahman that is, the Beloved of the Merciful; a name commonly given to Abraham, because he was the friend of God, and applied to Hebron, because it was the city of Abraham. So at Jerusalem, instead of saying, the gate of Abraham, they say the gate of the Beloved, [Bab el Haleel,] and it is common among the Arabs to use Abraham and Haleel interchangeably, as the name of the same person. The city lies in a valley, which runs nearly north-west and south-east. The greater part of the town lies on the north-east side of the valley. Kiriath Arba, the original name, means four villages. There are now two villages, which are considered parts of the town, but are totally distinct from it. By supposing a complete division in the principal parts of the town, where there is now a partial one, Hebron again be

comes Kiriath Arba. Josephus says of Hebron, (War, b. 5, c. 9;) 'Now the people of the country say, that it is a more ancient city, not only than any in that country, but than Memphis in Egypt, and accordingly its age is reckoned at 2,300 years.' According to this estimate, Hebron was first built more than 4,000 years ago. It was one of the cities of refuge; Joshua xx, 7. It is now without walls, and contains, according to Ali Bey's estimate, 400 houses. Shekh Mohammed, one of the chiefs of the town, told us, that one of the caliphs of Egypt, who repaired and rebuilt many houses in Hebron, began to surround the town with a wall; but 'our lord Isaac' appeared to him in the night, and forbid it, saying, I am the defence of my country.' Upon this the caliph desisted from the work.

"26. Early in the morning, with a Jew for our guide, we went to look at the mosque, which is said to cover the cave of Machpelah and the tombs of the patriarchs. It stands on a side of the hill facing the south-west. Neither Jews, nor Christians are allowed to enter. We saw two large gates, and within were gentle ascents by stairs. By the side of one gate is a place, where the poor Jews are allowed to come and weep, and read and repeat their prayers, in honor of their ancestors' tombs. The building is so connected with the castle and other buildings, that very little can be seen from without. Ali Bey (Vol. 2, p. 265,) describes the sepulchres of the patriarchs and their wives, and the temple, formerly a Greek church, now a mosque, which contains them. But on reading his description, the question naturally arises, is all this in a cave? See Gen. xxiii, 9, and xxv, 9. The Mussulman tradition is, that Joseph was buried here, as well as the other patriarchs.

"In passing through the town, our guide pointed out the place, where Abner the son of Ner was buried. Between the principal part of the town and