A CANAL DOWN THE JORDAN VALLEY.

Port Said at Haifa, just above the head of Mount Carmel, from which a canal might be carried across the Plain of Esdraelon to the Jordan, and down its valley to the Dead Sea, from which a canal could be cut across the desert to Akaba, where it would strike the other arm of the Red Sea from that reached by the Suez Canal.

Such a line it is easy to draw on the map, but to the execution of the project there is one great natural difficulty, in the depression of the Dead Sea, which is thirteen hundred feet below the level of the Mediterranean. The same difficulty would not be experienced in constructing a railroad, which, if not as effective for commerce, would answer equally well for subduing and civilizing the country. Before the Bedaween can be civilized they must be governed; and to be governed they must be subdued; and to be subdued they must be reached. The first thing is to get at them. An army cannot be transported across the desert on camels. The Arabs would fly faster than the army could follow, only to return as soon as it was gone. But with a railroad reaching to the Gulf of Akaba, troops could easily be transported to within striking distance of the most powerful tribes. As the Pacific railroads are settling the Indian question, so railroads across the desert may yet settle the Arab question.

But the project of a canal is the more captivating to the imagination, and it is hard to say to modern engineers that anything is impossible. This is an age of the world when the wildest anticipations of the past are exceeded by the realities of the present, and when it is but in the natural course of things, that young men should dream dreams and old men should see visions. It would seem indeed like a dream of prophecy fulfilled, if we could see the ships of modern commerce gathering on that coast from which the ancient Phenicians carried commerce and

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CANAL TO THE GULF OF AKABA.

civilization to Greece and Italy and Spain; and passing under the shadow of Carmel, enter the calm waters of an artificial river, and unfold their sails, the white wings of peace, over a plain which has been for ages the battlefield of nations; then dropping slowly down into the Valley of the Jordan, and crossing the Plain of Jericho, (from which, but for the depression, the voyager might see the domes and towers of Jerusalem,) pass through the Dead Sea, under the shadow of the mountains of Moab, and over the buried cities of the Plain, without disturbing the dead of Sodom and Gomorrah; and moving silently as "painted ships upon a painted ocean," across the solemn stillness of the desert, come at last to Akaba, and make a port of the ancient Ezion-geber, from which sailed the fleets of Solomon! What a dream! Yet this may be, for things more wonderful have been. By some such means perhaps the Eastern question is to be solved. May we not at least hope for it, and look for it? Is it presumption to pray that this generation may not pass away until this dream shall be fulfilled?

CHAPTER XIII.

TO TIBERIAS-THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT: IS IT PHILOSOPHY, OR GENIUS, OR DIVINITY?

It was Tuesday morning when we struck our tents at Nazareth, where we had been camped since Saturday. In that time a place becomes familiar, and we have a home feeling about it that makes us leave it with regret. It was with a tender feeling that we turned to look for the last time at the peaceful valley where our Lord was a child; where he lived with his virgin mother. But the scene, like childhood itself, must be left behind, that we may pass on to other scenes connected not with the childhood, but with the manhood, of him who is the Master of us all.

The hill up which we were now riding was the same which we climbed yesterday; but as we passed over its shoulder, instead of turning westward towards Mount Carmel, we kept northeast in the direction of the Lake of Galilee, and soon came to places associated with the Old Testament and the New. Here on our left, perched on a high, steep hill, was the ancient Gath Hepher, the birthplace of the prophet Jonah ; and next we rode into a little village, which Floyd announced with a loud voice to be Cana of Galilee. As usual with these villages, it is clustered about a fountain. "And this is the very fountain

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CANA OF GALILEE.

from which the water was taken that was turned into wine!" This was so positive that it seemed as if it must be authentic, and I sprang from my horse, and stooping down, plunged my face into the brimming pool, and took a long draught. Some maidens, who had come to fill their pitchers with water, were "sitting on the well," and smiled, as I thought, at my enthusiasm ; but Floyd said they were laughing at the cut of my whiskers, for which I do not blame them for there must be something very unimposing, not to say ridiculous, in our close-cropped hair to those accustomed to see the human countenance invested with dignity, and even made venerable, by the flowing Oriental beard.

After the warmth with which I hailed this sacred spot, it was a little chilling to be told that it was not without a rival; that there was another village of the same name not far away, which Robinson and other learned investigators believed to be the true Cana of Galilee. But I was not willing to give it up, for had I not been to the very house where the marriage feast was celebrated, and seen the very "water-pots" (huge earthen jars) in which the water stood which was converted into wine? It is not to be supposed that this little village would willingly surrender its only title to fame. The tradition is its capital. Accordingly, there is a Greek priest on hand, gracious and smiling, (whether at the credulity of pilgrims or at the money he receives,) who unlocks the door, and shows the interior, with as little question of its genuineness as does the custodian of Independence Hall, who shows the original Declaration, with its immortal signatures.

But whether the site of Cana can be identified or not, this at least is certain, that we are in Galilee, the scene of our Lord's ministry, at the beginning of which, "when John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee, and

MOUNT OF THE BEATITUDES.

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leaving Nazareth came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the borders of Zebulon and Naphtali." In going from Nazareth to Capernaum, he must have crossed these very hills and passed through these very valleys, all of which are hallowed by association with him. These associations gave a charm to that morning's ride, and when it came to the hour of noon, and we halted in the shade for our midday rest, I sat down at the foot of a tree and took out my Bible, and read chapter after chapter of the Gospel narrative. How real it all seems when one has the very landscape in his eye, as a background of the sacred story!

But now we are coming to a spot which makes us pause and linger. It was the middle of the afternoon that we were riding across an upland at the slow and even pace into which travellers are apt to drop, when Floyd bounded ahead, and dashed up the side of a hill, which rises out of the plain. We followed, and when we had reined up beside him, he said "This is the Mount of the Beatitudes! Here Christ delivered the Sermon on the Mount!" Its identity rests upon tradition, but in this case tradition is so supported by natural probability, that cautious investigators accept it as genuine. I dismounted with the feeling that I ought to take my shoes off my feet: for this was holy ground. The mount itself is not indeed imposing. At first I was disappointed, as it seemed wanting in majesty. A few weeks before I had stood upon Mount Sinai, from which the Law was given amid thunderings and lightnings; but here the mount almost ɛinks down into the plain. Was this intended to symbolize the difference between the Law and the Gospel : that we were not come to the mount that burned with fire-to blackness and darkness and tempest-but to a mount that might be touched, with no barrier between us and our Master, to forbid our