PALESTINE MISSION. JOURNAL OF MR. FISK. (Continued from p. 275.) THE following extracts contain an account of Mr. Fisk's journey from Beyrout to Jerusalem. Oct. 28, 1823. Left Beyrout for Jerusalem in company with the Rev. Mr.Jowett. After riding about eight hours on asses, we stopped for the night at Nabi Yoanas, (the Prophet Jonah.) We were welcomed by Abdallah, a Turkish dervish, and conducted to a good room, that is to say, a room, in which, by putting stones against the wooden windows and door, we were able to exclude company, and in a great measure the outer air. The only article of furniture was a mat thrown on the floor. The house was built by the Emir Beshir for the accommodation of travellers. It is near the tomb of a Turkish saint, and at the head of a fine little bay; and the place is called Nabi Yoanas, because tradition says it was here that the fish "vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." We talked with the Dervish about the Prophet. He told most of the story correctly, but added, that God prepared two trees to shelter him when he was thrown upon the dry land. We showed him the book of Jonah in the Arabic Bible. He read, kissed the book, read again, kissed the book again, and so on eight or ten times. Mussulmans often treat the Bible thus when we show it to them, thus acknowledging it as a sacred book. But they are, like the nominal Christians who live among them, more ready to acknowledge its authority by kissing it, and putting it to their forehead and their breast, than by reading it, and receiving its "doctrines, and obeying its precepts. The next day Messrs. Fisk and Jowett rode to Sidon, which appears to have been the northern limit of the Holy Land, on the sea-shore. Josh. 19:28. On the following VOL. XX. day they proceeded to Tyre, and took lodg ings in the Greek Catholic convent. 30. The road from Sidon to Tyre is almost a perfect 'level. The soil seems excellent, but, as in many other parts of Turkey, it is good land lying waste. We saw a few villages east of us; but on the plain we saw no village, and I think only three or four little miserable habitations, for a distance of near thirty miles. 31. In the morning we sold a few Psalters. The Psalter is much more eagerly sought after, than any other part of the Scriptures, because among the Christians of Syria, it is the universal, and almost the only school-book. The education acquired at school, generally amounts to no more than ability to read the Psalter. Tyre. South and west of the peninsula, on which Tyre stands, you see ledges of rocks near the shore, and ancient columns scattered on the rocks. The harbor is north of the town. A small harbor, in which boats lie, is surrounded by a wall. At a distance from the landing, there is a reef of rocks, which must make the entrance dangerous in bad weather, but which, by breaking the waves, forms the security of the harbor. We counted more than 100 columns lying in one place on the rocks. In that small harbor, we saw many at the bottom several feet under water. In the afternoon our travellers set off for Acre, where they arrived by the middle of the next day. Mr. Fisk thus describes the principal mosque in the city, which, he says, "was built by the infamous Jezzar Pasha, and bears his name." Description of a Turkish Mosque. The mosque is near the Pasha's palace, which was also built by Jezzar. It resembles, in its general form, a Christian church, 39 but is without seats or pews. The floor is covered with carpets, on which the worshippers sit, and kneel. In one corner is a reading desk, and in another part is a pulpit. Stairs at two corners lead up to a fine gallery, and thence to a second, which is very narrow. In front of each gallery are places for rows of lamps. The upper gallery seems to be designed merely for the purpose of illuminating. There is a large chandelier suspended from the lofty dome, and a multitude of lamps hang about the mosque. The windows are also numerous, so that when lighted up in the evenings of the Bairam, the appearance must be splendid. The mosque, according to Mussulman taste, is ornamented by paintings, in which different colors are ouriously intermixed. The execution is far from being elegant. Yet the effect is on the whole agreeable. A few Turks were present reading from the Koran. Before the mosque is a large court paved with marble of different colors, shaded by rows of palm trees, and containing two elegant domes with fountains under them. On three sides of this court, are rows of cloisters for the accommodation of students and travellers. In one of them is a library. The effects of a late siege were visible. In several places the walls of the mosque and of the cloister had been seriously injured by cannon balls. This court with its shades and fountains is quite in oriental taste, and certainly for a country it is a delightful spot. My imag hot ination was filled with the idea of the learned Mussulmans, in the times of the Caliphs of Bagdad and Cairo, passing their time in such places. I was dressed after the oriental manner, and fancied that in such a place, surrounded by Mussulman doctors, I could soon become familiar both with their manners and their language. Had I the faith, the wisdom, the learning, and the courage of Martyn, I might perhaps find access to such places, and tell these men, who are so wise in their own conceits, that truth which they are so unwilling to hear, namely, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. On the Conversion of Mussulmen. My mind dwells with deep interest on the question, "How is the Gospel to be preached to, the Mussulmans?" According to the established law, and a law which to the extent of my information is rigidly executed, it is immediate death for any Mussulman, of whatever rank, and in whatever circumstances, to renounce his religion. Undoubtedly God can so pour out his Spirit upon men, that they shall embrace his Gospel in multitudes, even with the certainty of immediate death. But has he ever done thus? Has the Gospel ever prevailed where this was the case? Under the Pagan emperors, fiery persecutions were endured, and the Gospel still prevailed. But in these persecutions, it usually was only some of the principal persons, or at least only a part of the Christians, that were put to death. Perhaps, if a few conversions should take place, and be followed by immediate martyrdom, the blood of the martyrs would again prove the seed of the church, and the persecutors cease from their opposition. Possibly the bloody and fiery scenes of the first centuries are to be acted over again. Possibly some great political revolution is to open the door for the free preaching of the Gospel to the followers of the false prophet. -Yesterday and to-day sold 45 copies of the Scriptures, and a number of tracts. Mount Carmel, the River Kishon, &c. Nov. 5. At half past nine we left Acre. Mount Carmel was distinctly in view on the south. See 1 Kings 19. It runs N. W. and S. E., and stretches out between the sea and the bay of Acre. "That ancient river, the river Kishon," empties at the head of the bay. See Judges 5:21; and still nearer to Acre is the Betus. I am told that the Kishon is a considerable stream even in summer. At half past 12, having crossed the plain of Acre, we came among small bills. Our muletteer not being well acquainted with the way, we went out of the direct road, and ascended a hill on which stands the village of Abilene, containing, I conjecture, 500 inhabitants. About four o'clock, we entered a fine plain, which we were about an hour in crossing. Soon after this we passed Sephoora, a village about the same size as Abilene. Josephus says, "the greatest cities of Galilee were. Sepphoris and Tiberias." The habitations have a very mean and dirty appearance. We observed three arches together, which probably belonged to a church, or some other building, erected by the Crusaders. The village stands on the side of a hill. On its summit are the walls of an old castle. In going from Sephoora we met many women carrying pitchers of water on their heads. Others were riding, or driving asses, which carried some two and some four jars of water. We soon came to a plat of green-sward, and a fountain whence the women drew the water, and where large numbers of horses and cattle were assembled to quench their thirst. One sees green-sward in this country very seldom, and but little in a place. Nazareth. After a ride of nine hours we arrived at Nazareth. Had our guide known the road well, we should have accomplished the journey probably in six or seven hours. We sought lodgings in the Catholic convent, and were very civilly received, though we carried a letter to the Superior from a priest at Nazareth, which informed him that we were missionaries, and were going about preaching and distributing the Scriptures. 6. Looked at the church of the convent. It is large and splendid, hung with tapestry, and ornamented with paintings. One painting represents the marriage of Joseph and Mary. I asked the friar that explained it to us, who married them. He replied, "the Bishop of Jerusalem;" as if there had been bishops before the birth of Christ. In a grotto they show you the place of the Annunciation. They say that the house, in which Mary then lived, was carried by angels to Loretto, in Italy. Pilgrimages are now made to Nazareth to see the place where the house was, and to Loretto to see the house itself. In a large room, adjoining the yard of the convent, is a school of 40 or 50 boys. Their principal school-book is the Arabic Psalter, printed at Mar Hannah Shooair, but I observed on the master's table two copies of the Arabic Bible, both printed at Rome, one in Arabic and Latin, the other merely in Arabic. On most of the doors in the convent is inscribed, "Ave Maria Purissima," "Ave Maria Plenagratia;" sometimes with the addition in Spanish of, "sin pecado concebida," i. e. conceived without sin; in conformity with the doctrine of the Franciscans, that the Virgin Mary was never affected by original sin. In one place is a promise of 100 days indulgence to every one, who shall say, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord of hosts, the earth is full of thy glory. Glory to the Father. Glory to the Son. Glory to the Holy Spirit." On the same paper is a promise of 300 days indulgence to every one, who says, with a humble and contrite heart, "Jesus, Joseph, and Mary, with my heart I give you my soul. Jesus, Joseph, and Mary, assist me in my last agony. Jesus, Joseph, and Mary, let my soul depart in peace with you." Then a form for blessing, "the adorable name of God, for the repairing of the abuses of blasphemy." It is as follows, "Blessed be God.-Blessed be his name.-Blessed be Jesus true God, true man.-Blessed be the name of Jesus.-Blessed be Jesus in the most holy sacrament of the altar.-Blessed be the great mother of God, most holy Mary.-Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin, Mother-Blessed be God in his angels and saints." A promise is made of one whole year's indulgence to every one, that recites the above. A Spanish priest with whom I conversed told me that he has now been 30 years a missionary in the East, and yet he has not learned the language of the people, and speaks only Spanish and Italian. He now knows scarcely a word of Arabic, though he has been so long in the country, where that is the prevailing language, and he told me that none of the friars in the convent could speak it. Many of the Catholic missionaries never learn the language of the people. Their business is to say mass in Latin, and take care of the convents. Are these the men who go forth in obedience to the command of Christ to preach the Gospel to every creature? A Greek priest gave me the following estimate of the population of Nazareth. Greeks 300 or 400 houses; Turks 200; Catholics 100; Greek Catholics 40, or 50; Maronites 20, or 30: In all about 700 houses. We had previously, from looking at the town, judged the number of houses to be about 500. The women in and around Nazareth go unveiled; and their principal ornaments are strings of money worn on their head dress. These coins differ in value from the para, which is worth only the fourth of a cent, to the Mahmoodia, which is worth more than three dollars. Paras are worn in great numbers, and a string of silver coins, worth about 10 or 20 cents each, is often passed over the forehead, and left to hang down on both sides of the face. Women, who wore money to considerable amount on their head dress, were seen barefoot with mean and often a ragged clothing, bringing pitchers of water to town on their heads. 8. Nazareth is situated on the side of a hill, and nearly at its foot. The hill faces E. and S. E. Before the town is a valley, about a mile long, and from 50 to 100 rods wide, running N. and S. and by being surrounded by hills, it is made a complete basin. It is a charming spot, and I love to reflect as I walk over the plain of Nazareth, and the hills around it, that our Lord and Savior used to walk over the same ground. From this valley, there is a passage out to the south into the great plain of Esdraelon. From the town you walk about 20 minutes over the plain, the hills on the right and left converging till there remains only a strong, narrow ravine, about a mile in length. On the right hand of this passage, as it opens into the plain of Esdraelon, is a precipice rough, and steep, and high. This is shown you as the brow of the hill, whence the Jews wished to precipitate our Lord. See Luke 4:29. It is indeed the brow of the hill, on which Nazareth stands, though at a considerable distance from the town. Tabor-Hermon-Nain. river and passed the ruins of an old bridge, the arches of which are still standing. The river bends often and varies much in width, perhaps from 30 to 100 yards. It is so shallow that cattle and asses were fording it without difficulty. On returning to the bath, I ascertained the temperature of the water. In the water of the lake, my thermometer stood at 76°; in the sun at 90°; in the water of the bath, at the time I went into it, (when it had cooled, by 10. At 8 o'clock we left Nazareth for Tiberias, now called Tabaria. Going a little S. of E. we soon came in sight of Tabor and Hermon. Tabor rises majestically, like a vast pyramid. Hermon is longer, and partially broken. At the foot of Hermon, on the north, our guide point-standing,) at 110°; in one spring as it ed out Nain, now a Turkish village. Tabor is nearly north of Hermon. The country we passed was covered with shruboaks, and the soil seemed rich. At half past 10, we arrived at Khan Sook, or Market Tavern. Here are two old castles, and here the merchants of Nazareth, the people of the villages, and the Arabs from the mountains, hold a Fair, every Monday. When we arrived, we found about 1000 people assembled, buying and selling cattle and merchandize of all sorts. We rested till 12, and then set off for Tiberias, our course a little N. of E., and arrived at 3 o'clock. Tiberias. You perceive neither Tiberias, nor its lake, till you approach very near them; and then, from the hill, you have a good view of both. The town stands on the shores of the lake, is surrounded by a wall, and, from the hill, makes a very decent appearance. On entering, you find a considerable part of it in ruins. We lodged with a Jew, Signor Rafael Piciotti, the Austrian Consul-General for Syria. He is now an old man, and has retired from business to spend the eve of life quietly on the shores of this peaceful lake. In the evening Rabbi Samuel, who married the Consul's daughter-in-law,. (now 13 or 14 years old,) gave us the following estimate of the Jewish population. Ashkenasim (Polish Jews) 150 houses, and Sephartim (Spanish Jews) 70 or 80. Each sect have one synagogue. The Ashkenasim here are all Hasidim; there are no Perushim, (Pharisees) in the place. Rabbi Samuel says there are 20 or 30 Rabbies, who spend their whole time in reading Talmud. 11. We went to see the hot springs. They are on the shore of the lake, a half hour's ride S. of Tiberias. The plain S. of the town is covered with ruins till you reach the Springs. At one of these springs a bath is erected, to which the people of the country resort. The present building was raised by Jezzar Pasha. While Mr. Jowett remained at the bath, I pursued my course S. and in another hour arrived at the S. end of the lake, where the Jordan issues from it. I rode a little way down the issued from the ground, 131°; in another, 132°; where it issued from under the bath, 138°; and in another place, 139°. I was told, however, that the heat varies at different times. Probably it is diminished by heavy rains. The water is sulphureous. A Jew, with whom I entered into conversation at the bath, estimated the Jewish population of Tabaria at 96 families of Ashkenasim, and 90 of Sephartim. When we returned to the town, we stopped at what is called the house of Peter. It is now a Greek Catholic church, and the only church in Tiberias. We met with the only Priest in the place, and he told us that the whole number of Christian families in the town is 30 or 40, all Greek Catholics. Capernaum. 12. I went with our guide Antoon Baulus, to see the ruins of Capernaum, on the shore of the lake, N. of Tiberias. One hour's ride brought us to an Arab village called Maydool. We then entered a plain, which we were an hour in crossing. Then passing a deserted Khan, we entered upon a rough piece of road, and soon came to the ruins of an Arab house, evidently of very modern construction; yet my guide asserted that this was Bethsaida. A few rods N. of it are some ruined walls but clearly of modern origin. After passing a set of mills on a brook, we came to the ruins of Capernaum, at least, to ruins which now bear that name; in about three hours ride from Tiberias. Here are ruins which are manifestly very ancient. A part of the wall of one building still stands, and many walls appear at the surface of the ground, as well as broken columns, pedestals, and capitals. These are of hard limestone, like those of Balbec. There are now 20 or 30 uninhabited Arab huts on the ruins of the old city. Two men and one woman were repairing the roof of one, I understood in order to make it a storehouse for grain. After Messrs. Fisk and Jowett had returned to Tiberias, they visited the Synagogue of the Jews, with which a Madrash, or College, was connected. Rabbinical Libraries. There were near 1000 Rabinical volumes in the room. The synagogues of the Sephartim and Ashkenasim adjoin each other. In the latter, about 50 men were assembled for prayers. Over the synagogue of the Sephartim is a larger room, in which there are about 1500 volumes of Rabbinic lore. There are two mosques in Tiberias, and from the appearance of the town, and what we saw of the people, we judged the whole population to be about 1000. Among the Christians of Tiberias, we distributed several Testaments and Psalters. Our travellers left Tiberias on the 13th, passed Maidool, and there leaving the lake, they travelled a little W. of N. to Safet, six hours and a half from Tiberias, which consists in reality of two towns; the one east inhabited by Turks, and the west by Jews. They took lodgings in the house of Israel, a Jew, the head of the Ashkenasim. The name of his wife was Deborah, and that of his agent Baruch. I love these Old Testament names: but I long for the time, when the Jews will unite in their families, names from the New and from the Old Testament, the names of Apostles with the names of prophets. Safet. 14. The castle of Safet stands on very high ground, with the town east and west of it, and some scattered houses south. This morning we went up to the castle, waited on the Aga, who commands the town, and took a view of the place and the hills around it. We conjectured the number of Turkish houses to be 1000. We could see only four minarets. The castle is large and lofty, and built on a magnificent plain, but now decayed and going to ruin. To the N. E. is a high mountain, which the Jews say is Tabor. To the S. W. is another, which they say is Hermon. On an eminence a little S. E. of the castle, is an old fortress, which the Jews say was founded by Josephus. They tell you likewise, that this is the scene of the battle of Sisera. The Perushims, or Pharisees, were said to have two synagogues in Safet, the Hasidim six, and the Sephartim eight. Tiberias and Safet are both declared to be interesting places for a Missionary to the Jews. The Mount of Beatitudes. AT 11 o'clock, Messrs. Fisk and Jowett set out on their return to Nazareth; and at 5, arrived at Hatteen, a small village at the foot of Mount Beatitude, on the N. W. Mount Beatitude has its name from the tradition that here Christ delivered his memorable Sermon. The Gospel would neighborhood, and it seems to me that, in lead us to suppose, that it was in this this case, tradition is supported by a high 8:5, and Luke 7:1. degree of probability. See Matt. 4:23, and Cana of Galilee. See 15. Left Hatteen after giving away three Testaments. In two hours and a half, we arrived at Cana of Galilee. John 2. It is now a mean village containing about 30 Christian and 30 Mussulman houses. The Christians are all of the Greek Church. They have a Priest, whe showed us their Church. It was a low, dark place. There is a water pot of stone in it, which the Priest says is one of those mentioned in the Gospel. It is so solid and heavy, as to be almost immoveable. The inhabitants said, that their village was six hours from Acre, and two from Sephoora; and it was found to be an hour and a half from Nazareth. The travellers arrived at Nazareth before the day had ended. A priest, whom Mr. Fisk met towards evening, told him that the boys learn to read in the Psalter, and nothing else; and that the girls never learn to read at all. Monastery, a Padre came up, and entered 16. As I was walking in the hall of the into conversation with me about the distribution of books. He said he was aware, that the English wish, by the distribution of books, to form a party in the East. "But," said he in a confidential manner, as if telling me something very important, "I perceive they do not know the character of the people in the Levant. One third of the money, which they spend for books, if distributed secretly, would form a large party. Whereas, by distributing books, they effect nothing. Fourteen cases of books arrived at Jaffa at different times while I was there, and of all of these I presume you cannot now find enough to fill two cases." Such advice from a Missionary might seem like serious trifling, or like an intentional insult to us, but the manner in which the Padre spoke, and especially the fact that this is the method adopted by the Catholics in order to make proselytes, make me believe that he was sincere in what he considered the best method of converting men. This man has been 30 years a missionary without learning the |