at nothing; but towards evening I recovered a little. My
appetite now also returned, but unfortunately nothing was to be had
but some bad mutton-broth and an omelette made with rancid oil. It
is bad enough to be obliged to subsist on such fare when we are in
health, but the hardship increases tenfold when we are ill.
However, I sent for some bread and wine, and strengthened myself
therewith as best I might.

June 15th.

Thanks be to Heaven, I was to-day once more pretty well. In the
morning I could already mount my horse and take part in the
excursion we desired to make to

TABARITH.

Passing Mary's Well and a mountain crowned by some ruins, the
remains of ancient Canaan, we ride for about three miles towards the
foot of Mount Tabor, the highest summit of which we do not reach for
more than an hour. There were no signs of a beaten road, and we
were obliged to ride over all obstacles; a course of proceeding
which so tired our horses, that in half an hour's time they were
quite knocked up, so that we had to proceed on foot. After much
toil and hardship, with a great deal of climbing and much suffering
from the heat, we gained the summit, and were repaid for the toil of
the ascent, not only by the reflection that we stood on classic
ground, but also by the beautiful view which lay spread before our
eyes. This prospect is indeed magnificent. We overlook the entire
plain of Saphed, as far as the shores of the Galilean Sea. Mount
Tabor is also known by the name of the "Mountain of Bliss"--here it
was that our Lord preached His exquisite "Sermon on the Mount." Of
all the hills I have seen in Syria, Mount Tabor is the only one
covered to the summit with oaks and carob-trees. The valleys too
are filled with the richest earth, instead of barren sand; but in
spite of all this the population is thin, and the few villages are
wretched and puny. The poor inhabitants of Syria are woefully
ground down; the taxes are too high in proportion to the productions
of the soil, so that the peasants cannot possibly grow more produce
than they require for their own consumption. Thus, for instance,
orchards are not taxed in the aggregate, but according to each
separate tree. For every olive-tree the owner must pay a piastre,
or a piastre and a half; and the same sum for an orange or lemon
tree. And heavily taxed as he is, the poor peasant is never safe in
saying, "Such and such a thing belongs to me." The pacha may shift
him