would be with us, and now, behold, our hope is departed from us."
I told him how sincerely I regretted leaving Nablûs so soon. Then he pronounced a prayer and a blessing for me, and went his way.
A Christian of the Greek Catholic Church who was with us, and who had heard the words of Amran and my answer, said, "Rejoice, rather, O lady, that you are privileged to keep the festival of Easter in the Holy City, Jerusalem, that you may worship in the Church of the Sepulcher of our Lord. It is better for you to do so than to pass the Holy Week on'this mountain' with Samaritans, who besmear their foreheads with blood, and believe not in the name of Christ and our Blessed Lady." I was strikingly reminded of Christ's words to the woman of Samaria: "The hour cometh when ye shall, neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father." "God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth."
There had been rain during the night, and the stone houses of Nablûs, the white rocky terraces which bordered the fruit-gardens on the hill-sides, and the slabs of smooth stone in the plains, glistened like mirrors in the gleams of sunshine. The grass, the wild flowers, the fruit-trees, and the broad fields of wheat and barley were still wet with the recent shower, and looked vividly green where the quickly traveling clouds overshadowed them.
We took the upper path over the spurs of Gerizim; it was rocky and stony, but bright with mezereons, vetches, and forget-me-nots. We met a number of soldiers and several large parties of horsemen. The traffic on the roads leading to Nablûs was greatly increased at that time, owing to the presence of Kamîl Pasha and his troops. The lower road, which is nearly in the middle of the plain, and passes near to Jacob's Well, was traversed by companies of peasants and strings of camels, donkeys laden with firewood, and women carrying bowls of milk or cream. I was as-
