n occupied by the Latins and
Greeks is very beautifully situated on the side of the mountain. The
stone houses, "whited walls," and green cypresses make quite a pretty
picture. The Church of St. John, according to tradition, stands on the
spot where once dwelt Zacharias and Elizabeth, the parents of John, the
great forerunner of Jesus. Night came upon us before we got back to our
starting place, and as this was my first day of donkey riding, I was
very much fatigued when I finally dismounted in Jerusalem; yet I arose
the next morning feeling reasonably well, but not craving another donkey
ride over a rough country beneath the hot sun.

On Saturday, the twenty-second of October, I turned away from Jerusalem,
having been in and around the place almost two weeks, and went back to
Jaffa by rail. After a few miles the railway leads past Bittir, supposed
to be the Beth-arabah of Joshua 15:61. It is also of interest from the
fact that it played a part in the famous insurrection of Bar Cochba
against the Romans. In A.D. 135 it was captured by a Roman force after
a siege of three and a half years. Ramleh, a point twelve miles from
Jaffa, was once occupied by Napoleon. Lydda, supposed to be the Lod of
Ezra 2:33, was passed. Here Peter healed Aeneas, who had been palsied
eight years. (Acts 9:32-35.)

Jaffa is the Joppa of the Bible, and has a good deal of interesting
history. When "Jonah rose to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of
Jehovah," he "went down to Joppa and found a ship going unto Tarshish:
so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them to
Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah." (Jonah 1:3.) His unpleasant
experience with the great fish is well known. When Solomon was about to
build the first temple, Hiram sent a communication to him, saying: "We
will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need; and will bring
it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa; and thou shalt carry it up to
Jerusalem" (2 Chron. 2:16). In the days of Ezra, when Zerubbabel
repaired the temple, we read that "they gave money also unto the masons,
and to the carpenters; and food, and drink, and oil, unto them of Sidon,
and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, unto
Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia"
(Ezra 3:7). It was the home of "a certain disciple named Tabitha," whom
Peter was called from Lydda to raise from the dead. (Acts 9:36-43.)
Simon the tanner also lived i