ersons who
came with petitions. Some of Sir Moses' friends, fearing the ravages
of the plague, informed him of their intention to accompany him to
Hebron. A man to whom we had spoken, only a few days previously, had
since died of the plague, so that their apprehensions of serious
danger seemed to be fully justified. Sir Moses distributed the money
he had brought with him from England, and made arrangements for the
further distribution of L500, which he promised to send either from
Beyrout or Alexandria.

_Friday, 14th._--With feelings of deep regret we left the Mount of
Olives for Hebron, and after three hours' journey reached Rachel's
Tomb. Seeing that it was greatly out of repair and going fast to ruin,
Lady Montefiore gave directions for an estimate for its restoration to
be made. Half way to Hebron we rested for an hour near a fortress and
a great reservoir. Our route lay through a mountainous country, little
cultivated. On the summit of a mountain at some distance we saw the
tombs of Nathan the prophet and Gad the seer.

About an hour's ride from Hebron we were met by the representatives of
the Hebrew community, accompanied by hundreds of their members, many
of whom danced and sang psalms to manifest their delight. They
preceded us to the place where we pitched our tents, in an olive grove
near the town. The vicinity of the town was beautiful, very
mountainous, but covered with vines, olives, and pomegranates. We
attended the Portuguese Synagogue, and then returned to our tent.

_Saturday, 15th._--Early in the morning, the representatives of the
community came to accompany us to Synagogue, where both Sir Moses and
Lady Montefiore were received with the highest respect. At the
conclusion of the service the same gentlemen accompanied us back to
our encampment. Whilst at breakfast the Governor was announced; he
brought with him a present of four sheep. As we kept ourselves in
quarantine, and our place of encampment was surrounded by a cordon,
Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore could not receive him in the tent. After
having finished their repast, however, they went out to him, although
they did not consider it advisable to accept his present, as he had
not paid the pilgrims the attention due to them on their arrival. The
Governor, feeling that he had not acted as he should have done,
offered profound apologies, but blamed the community for not having
given him due notice of their arrival. In consideration of his polite