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374 a service conducted with more solemnity, even within the sacred inclosure of the Sanctuary at Jerusalem.

Immediately afterward, supper was brought for us, and at the same time a wooden bowl—rather shallow, but about a yard in diameter, and filled with steaming rice boiled in butter—was placed on the ground at a little distance from us. Metal dishes containing meat, eggs, vegetables, and cream, were added to the feast, round which the sheikh, the priest, and the elders of the village assembled. They ate quickly and silently, dipping pieces of their thin leathery loaves into the dishes of fried eggs or into the cream—tearing the tender morsels of meat to pieces with their fingers—dipping their hands together into the mound of rice and skillfully and neatly taking it up in pellets. When they were satisfied, they retired one after the other to wash their hands and to light their pipes. Their places were quickly taken by the younger men and boys in turn, and, when they had all finished, the servants gathered round, eating from the same dishes, the simplest of which had been replenished during the repast. Several sets of Arabs silently swallowed their supper while we leisurely used our knives and forks. The fragments that remained after the feast were not carried away till all the men and boys of the village had eaten there, but the women ate elsewhere in private.

We had some fine green figs, the first I had tasted that year. We found all the fruits and vegetables in the plain of Dor, in a much more advanced state than those in the hill-country of Judea. After sitting in the open air till about nine I retired to my tent. My fellow-travelers, including my brother, wrapped themselves in cloaks, and slept on the hillocks of wheat. I rose at five, and from the door of my tent I watched the rising of the sun above the range of Carmel.

After taking some excellent milk and coffee, we started and rode through the well-cultivated fields, the fruit and vegetable gardens, and the neglected quarries north of Kefr