but the seeming danger was soon over. Within the belt, the water was smooth as a lake, and once more I looked with delight on the scenes around me. There are two openings in the line of rocks; one toward the north, and one due west. We had entered at the latter; I felt the boat grating on the rocks beneath us.
It was now half-past eight, and the quays were already crowded with people, mostly in the brilliant native costumes, but there were a few Franks in the usual Levantine dress, which is white from head to foot. Flags were waving from the consulates and from the convents, as well as from the ships, for it was Sunday, and the place had quite a holiday appearance.
We passed in front of the town, toward the quarantine station, which is an isolated building, a little distance beyond the walls on the southern side.
Friendly voices from the shore welcomed my brother, in Arabic, Italian, French, and English. When we arrived opposite to our destination, the boat was dragged toward the sands, and the garde de santé, who wore only a coarse shirt and a girdle, jumped knee-deep into the water, caught me in his strong arms, and ran splashing through the sandy sea. When we came to land he still ran on, and would not release me till he placed me in charge of another garde, at the foot of the rude steps, leading up the sandy cliff, to the quarantine station. Then he hastened back to the boat for my fellow-travelers, carrying them one after the other to terra firma.
I had wondered how I should feel on first landing in Palestine, but this proceeding quite took the romance out of the event. I almost forgot I was in the Holy Land, while fully realizing the fact of being a prisoner. As soon as my brother and the monks joined me, we were led up the steps, to a door, which admitted us to a square inclosure, formed of low, flat-roofed buildings of stone, in a dilapidated state. In the center of the square, a wooden shed covers a deep well, and tall, large-leaved, thriving
