which seemed ready to the reaper's hand as our Lord spoke, has issued only in disappointing failure. The Divine Husbandman Himself gathered in the first-fruits; those that followed found 'tares' only. The bitter animosity with which the Samaritans regarded the Jews was soon turned against the Christians. Even when the empire had become nominally Christian, violent and murderous

persecutions broke out against the followers of Him who had here proclaimed Himself the Messiah: I that speak unto thee am He.' And as though inheriting the fanatical hostility of their ancestors, the present Moslem population of Nablus are amongst the most bigoted and violent in the whole East. The well is still deep,' though the bottom is choked with rubbish and the stones cast into it by travellers. The measurements, however, vary

JACOB'S WELL AT SHECHEM.

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considerably. Maundrell, and Robinson in his first edition, make the depth one hundred and five feet; McCheyne, Wilson, and Calhoun only seventyfive. The careful and repeated soundings of my own party nearly coincide with the latter statement; we made it seventy-eight feet. I can suggest no

way of reconciling these discrepancies. It is probable that the depth may have diminished since the visit of Maundrell in 1697. Robinson does not appear to have measured it himself, but to have relied upon the report of his companions. The upper part of the shaft is lined with rough masonry. After copious rains there is a little water in the bottom, but ordinarily the well is quite dry.

A few hundred feet north of Jacob's well, in the same parcel of

L

ground,' is Joseph's tomb. The structure over it is modern, and is an ordinary Mohammedan wely. There is, however, no reason to doubt the authenticity of the tradition which fixes upon this as the sepulchre of the patriarch. The deep alluvial soil would not allow of the interment being in a rock-hewn grave; but if the coffin were of granite or alabaster, like those of Egyptian magnates, it might yet be recovered if excavation were permitted. We have, however, already seen, when speaking of the Cave of Machpelah, that the Mohammedans assert that the body was removed from its original place of sepulture and placed with those of the other patriarchs at Hebron. The valley leading up to NABLUS, the Neapolis of the Romans, the Sychar, or Shechem of the Jews, is one of rare beauty. Dr. Porter says, with slight exaggeration, it is the finest in Palestine-in fact, it is the only really beautiful site from Dan to Beersheba.' Without the grandeur of the snow-crowned peaks of Switzerland, it yet reminded me of the Swiss-Italian valleys in its bright colour and rich vegetation. Van de Velde's description of it is graphic and truthful: Here there is no wilderness, here there are no wild thickets, yet there is always verdure; always shade, not of the oak, the terebinth, and the carob-tree, but of the olive grove-so soft in colour, so picturesque in form, that for its sake we can willingly dispense with all other wood. Here there are no impetuous mountain torrents, yet there is water; water, too, in more copious supplies than anywhere else in the land; and it is just to its many fountains, rills, and watercourses, that the valley owes its exquisite beauty. . . . There is a singularity about the Vale of Shechem, and that is the peculiar colouring which objects assume in it. You know that wherever there is water, the air becomes charged with watery particles; and that distant objects beheld through that medium seem to be enveloped in a pale blue or grey mist, such as contributes not a little to give a charm to the landscape. But it is precisely these atmospheric tints that we miss so much in Palestine. Fiery tints are to be seen both in the morning and the evening, and glittering violet or purple-coloured hues where the light falls next to the long deep shadows; but there is an absence of colouring, and of that charming dusky haze in which objects assume such softly blended forms, and in which also the transition in colour from the foreground to the farthest distance loses the hardness of outline peculiar to the perfect transparency of an Eastern sky. It is otherwise in the Vale of Shechem, at least in the morning and the evening. Here the exhalations remain hovering among the branches and leaves of the olive-trees, and hence that lovely bluish haze.'

To enjoy this lovely scenery in its full perfection, we must spend the evening hours on one of the flat roofs of the city. One such evening I shall never forget. Ebal and Gerizim were glowing in the light of the setting The long stretch of orchards and gardens along the valley were already dim in the purple shadows. The noise from the crowded streets died away.

sun.