Page:Domestic Life in Palestine.pdf/63

56 CHAPTER III. AROUND ABOUT JERUSALEM.

In the mean time all my leisure hours were spent in studying Arabic. The little ones at the Talibîyeh were never tired of adding to my vocabulary, which I practically applied whenever an opportunity arose, such as during the visits of Arab guests or work-people, and in my daily intercourse with the native attendants, whose voices rapidly grew familiar to me. Some of the elder women-servants were very demonstrative and affectionate, and often when I uttered a request, or gave directions in some newly-acquired words, they would reward me, (?) or testify their delight by clasping me in their arms and kissing me. I had been accustomed to hear Arabic spoken for a year or more, so the sounds were not strange to me.

On the 17th of July, after a quiet day of study, I started with my brother for Beit Lahm — that is, Bethlehem — the sun was going down, and purple shadows were swiftly rising in the eastern sky. We made our way over a rocky, pathless slope, and a few fields of sesame, till we reached the broad level road which traverses the fertile plain of Rephaim, where the Philistines were routed by David. This road is about a mile in length, and is the only place remaining in the neighborhood of Jerusalem fit for a carriage drive, though in many spots traces may be seen of ancient roads, telling of the time when "King Solomon had four thousand stalls for horsemen and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, which he bestowed in the chariot cities and at Jerusalem."

We passed over the plain quickly, the kawass galloping before us, and soon came to a spot where no carriage could