Page:Domestic Life in Palestine.pdf/139

132 the shape of a horseshoe, and the extent of the town could be traced by the lights gleaming from the windows of the houses which thickly dotted the valley below, and were grouped here and there on the hill-sides. The Arabs keep lamps burning in their rooms all night to chase away evil spirits. We descended abruptly between hedges of prickly pears, greeted by loudly-barking dogs, and inhaling a close, suffocating odor of dust and decayed vegetables. The word, "Hold your horse's head well up, for it is very steep here," prepared me now and then for a jerk down some rocky ledge or dusty declivity. At last we were safe in the valley; our escort disappeared; and we were led to the roomy but half-deserted house of Saleh, where he had resided till the death of his father, a few months previous, and where his brother and young sisters still lived. Two empty rooms were soon swept and garnished by men and boys, who brought a supply of matting, mattresses, cushions, and pillows from another part of the house, and we made ourselves at home. While we took supper, Saleh told me that his father, the head of a large family, had during his lifetime accumulated a considerable sum of money, which he kept in a secret place, probably buried. It was expected that he would someday tell his heirs where the treasure was concealed, but unhappily he was on a journey from Tiberias "when the Angel of Death met him." He was surrounded only by servants and strangers, to whom he could not intrust the important communication, and there was no time to send for his sons; so he died, and the secret died with him. Saleh, the eldest son, caused careful search to be made in and under the premises, but up to this time the property had not been found.

It is a very common practice, especially in the interior, to secrete jewels and gold in this way, and ancient deposits of great intrinsic value—and still greater interest as works of art and illustrations of history—are sometimes found.

The law of treasure-trove in Palestine, I believe, awards