Page:Domestic Life in Palestine.pdf/356

Rh in obedience to the law: " When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence." Deut. xxii, 8. From this terrace we had almost a bird's-eye view of Jerusalem. Looking down the slope of Olivet, sprinkled with trees and rugged with rocks, we saw the deep Valley of Jehoshaphat, which separated us from the city.

Mr. Graham and my brother went into the city every morning, and I used to sit in the window-seat sweeping the landscape with an excellent telescope, watching the worshipers in the mosque area, or gazing on the hills round about Jerusalem, till every one became as familiar to me as the face of a friend.

The olives and fig-trees around were flourishing, the pomegranates were in full leaf and blossom, and the fruit was beginning to form. The patches of wheat and barley on the terraces had been reaped, and thorns and thistles were springing up in the stubble-fields. My friends from the Consulate used to come sometimes to spend the midday hours with me, and my brother generally arrived in time for an evening stroll. This quiet life brought back my strength, and I could again use my pen and pencil with delight and with an untrembling hand; and, by taking  regular hours of rest, I found that I could work and enjoy all pleasant sights and sounds without suffering any ill effects.

On Saturday I noticed that large companies of women gathered together on the slope of the opposite hill, below the St. Stephen 's Gate. They sat in little groups under the olive-trees. They were all shrouded in white sheets, but many of them took off their mundîls, or muslin face-vails, thinking themselves quite out of sight of strangers—but I could distinguish their features through the telescope.

Ropes were fastened to the tree-branches, and the children began to swing with great glee. The women followed the example, and seemed thoroughly to enjoy the monotonous movement. By midday there were more than a