Page:Domestic Life in Palestine.pdf/152

Rh deep cisterns, we remounted. The sun had quite disappeared when we reached the foot of the hill. (On one occasion I walked down the steepest side of Tabor, with the help of a stout stick and a strong arm.)

The Rev. J. L. Porter says that Tabor rises 1,400 feet above the plain, and the plain is 500 feet above the level of the sea.

We had a pleasant ride back to Nazareth by moonlight. We spent the evening at the Consular encampment, and at a late hour walked up by lantern-light to Saleh's house.

The next morning I sat in the deep embrasure of a window, sketching, while my brother was busy in the midst of a group of Turkish Effendis and Christian scribes. They all carried inkhorns in their girdles, with cases attached to them to hold their reed pens. They sat on the floor and held single sheets of paper in their hands, and wrote with out any desk or support. The points of reed pens are so delicate, that they would be easily fractured by pressure on a hard table or desk.

The population of Nazareth is computed by Dr. Robinson thus:

This gives a total of 3,120; but the most recent and careful inquirers assure me that this estimate is too low. They reckon the total at 4,000, and the Greek Church is said to be on the increase. I never met a Jew either in Nazareth or Bethlehem! There is a small Protestant congregation, which is rather fluctuating.

Khawadja Stephani, the son of the Greek Priest of Shefa 'Amer, came expressly to ask us and Saleh to return to Hâifa by way of his village, and to pass a night there at his house. We arranged to do so, and started soon after midday. We rode for some distance over rocky hills, where