, of whom such "excellent things are spoken" in the books of the
Maccabees, and in whose memory an annual festival is kept by the
Jerusalem Jews on this spot on the day called [Hebrew text] rather more
than a month after the passover. Two other saints are celebrated on the
same day of the calendar--viz., R. Simeon bar Jochai, the cabbalist of
Safed, author of _Zohar_, and R. Akiva of Tiberias.

Then mounting up the side of Scopus, we halted for a few minutes to
survey that view of the holy city which surpasses all others, and must
have done so in the palmy days of history. It was at the time of
mid-afternoon, when the sun's rays pour slantingly with grand effect upon
the Temple site. I could not but recollect that this was exactly the
hour appointed for the daily evening sacrifice "between the two
evenings," (Hebrew of Exod. xii. 6,) and think of the choral music of
Levitical services grandly reverberating among the semicircle of hills.

Meditations of this nature would lead one far away in varied directions,
perhaps unsuited for the commencement of a long journey lying before us.

The next object attracting our attention was the Roman milestone lying
beside the road, shortly

[Picture: Roman Milestone]

after passing _Sha'afat_. This I always make it a rule to examine every
time of passing it. At one time I had it rolled over in order to be able
to read the inscription; but I afterwards found it tossed with the
writing downwards--perhaps all the better for its preservation.

The inscription I read as follows:--

[Picture: Milestone inscription]

That is to say, a register of the names of the Antonine emperors; but
there must have been other names on the upper part, now broken away.

Then passed under _Er Ram_ on our right hand, the Ramah of the Old
Testament, but as it is not often noticed, may be found in Jeremiah xl.
1, as the place where the Babylonish captain of the guard, as a favour,
released the prophet, after bringing him with the rest in chains from
Jerusalem.

Slept in a house at _Ram Allah_. This is a village about three-quarters
of an hour N.W. from Er Ram. The weather being cold we first lit a fire,
thereby trying the utility of a chimney that was in the house--in vain,
for no smoke would pass up it; it all settled in the room itself; and the
people excused themselves on the ground that it had never been tried
before. Probably it was a novelty