eject everything else which the Old Testament
contains. Three or four days ago was their grand feast of sacrifice, when
they made a burnt offering of a lamb, on the top of Mount Gerizim. Within
a short time, it is said they have shown some curiosity to become
acquainted with the New Testament, and the High Priest sent to Jerusalem
to procure Arabic copies.

I asked one of the wild-eyed boys whether he could read the sacred book.
"Oh, yes," said the priest, "all these boys can read it;" and the one I
addressed immediately pulled a volume from his breast, and commenced
reading in fluent Hebrew. It appeared to be a part of their church
service, for both the priest and _boab_, or door-keeper, kept up a running
series of responses, and occasionally the whole crowd shouted out some
deep-mouthed word in chorus. The old man leaned forward with an expression
as fixed and intense as if the text had become incarnate in him, following
with his lips the sound of the boy's voice. It was a strange picture of
religious enthusiasm, and was of itself sufficient to convince me of the
legitimacy of the Samaritan's descent. When I rose to leave I gave him the
promised fee, and a smaller one to the boy who read the service. This was
the signal for a general attack from the door-keeper and all the boys who
were present. They surrounded me with eyes sparkling with the desire of
gain, kissed the border of my jacket, stroked my beard coaxingly with
their hands, which they then kissed, and, crowding up with a boisterous
show of affection, were about to fall on my neck in a heap, after the old
Hebrew fashion. The priest, clamorous for more, followed with glowing
face, and the whole group had a riotous and bacchanalian character, which
I should never have imagined could spring from such a passion as avarice.

On returning to our camp, we found Mentor and Telemachus arrived, but not
on such friendly terms as their Greek prototypes. We were kept awake for a
long time that night by their high words, and the first sound I heard the
next morning came from their tent. Telemachus, I suspect, had found some
island of Calypso, and did not relish the cold shock of the plunge into
the sea, by which Mentor had forced him away. He insisted on returning to
Jerusalem, but as Mentor would not allow him a horse, he had not the
courage to try it on foot. After a series of altercations, in which he
took a pistol to shoot the dragoman, and applied very profane terms to