before it for a few minutes, we made our way down a street almost blocked up by camels, and thence passed into the principal bazar, the finest arcade in Palestine. It is rather wider and much more lofty than the Lowther Arcade, and about five or six times as long. Here European goods are displayed, such as Manchester prints, Sheffield cutlery, beads, and French bijouterie, very small mirrors, Bohemian glass-bottles for narghilés, Swiss headkerchiefs, in imitation of the Constantinople mundîls, crockery-ware, and china coffee-cups. But the brightest shops are those in which Damascus and Aleppo silks, and embroidered jackets and tarbûshes from Stamboul, appear, with stores of Turkish pipes, amber rosaries, and bracelets from Hebron. On the low shop-counters the turbaned salesmen squat in the midst of the gay wares, and they smoke and gossip, stroke their beards, and finger their rosaries from early in the morning till sunset.
An opening in the middle of this arcade led us into an extensive khan, well planned, but so out of repair as to be almost useless. It is an uncovered square space, inclosed by a two-storied range of buildings. The ground floor is well adapted for lodging camels and other beasts of burden, but the upper chambers are so dilapidated that they afford but little shelter. We mounted a broken stone stairway, and with difficulty reached the terraced roof, which commands a good view of the town.
When we reëntered the arcade, we heard ourselves unexpectedly addressed by name, and, turning round, we saw Ody Azam, my host, in his little shop, selling pens, pencils, and paper, and Birmingham wares. He said that the Arabs wondered how it was that I could walk freely and unvailed in public places, adding, "Our women do not enter the bazars; it would be a shame for them."
The chief productions of Nablûs are cotton, olive-oil, and soap. The latter is made in large quantities, and sold throughout Palestine; it is grayish-white and makes a good lather. The oil of Nablûs is famous for its clearness and
