"He is always ready to be bought off, provided he can make more in that way than by stealing. Sometimes the government lays a heavy hand on him, and compels him to abandon his practices; but as these people can always flee to the deserts, where regular troops cannot follow, it is very difficult to conquer them. Some of the tribes have never been subdued, but live in perfect independence far away from the cities and towns.

"The Bedouin has the single virtue of hospitality, and a stranger who has been received in his tent is entirely safe so long as he remains there. The Bedouin will protect him and his property, and instances of violation of the rules of hospitality are very rare. But it sometimes happens that he will find out what road his guest intends to travel, and then send his friends forward, or even go himself, to rob and perhaps murder the man who was the night before sleeping safely in his tent. There is a superstition among many of the Arab tribes that if they eat salt with a stranger they are forbidden to harm him afterward; from this comes the remark you often hear about two persons having eaten salt together, and therefore they must be friends.

"The Arabs in this part of Palestine," Doctor Bronson continued, "were formerly very bold robbers, and committed many outrages. They have been severely chastised on several occasions, but their evil practices have never been quite broken up. They claim to own the country, and therefore insist on their right to levy toll or tribute from everybody passing through it. This would not be so bad if the amount of toll was uni

SAFE-CONDUCT IN PALESTINE.

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form, but their practice has been to take everything the traveller possesses, even to his clothing and sometimes his life.

"Of late years the business has been systematized, and the Bedouins have made a compromise with the government, so that any traveller can have a safe-conduct through their country by paying for it. A sheik of the tribe with several of his followers lives in Jerusalem; they are kept there as hostages for the good behavior of their brethren in the Valley of the Jordan, and before one of them can leave the city another must come there to take his place. In case a traveller under escort is robbed, the sheik must make good his loss.

"The price of a safe-conduct to the Jordan and Dead Sea has been fixed at five francs for each person of a party, and the guides and servants are not to be counted.

"When we came to Jerusalem, Ali went to the sheik and paid him thirty francs-five francs for each of us-for the safe-conduct for the party. An escort of one or two men will meet us at Mar Saba, and go with us the rest of the way. He is responsible for our safety, and his presence with us indicates that we have paid the proper black-mail, and are therefore not to be molested.

"Formerly it was necessary to engage a dozen or more of these fellows to act as a guard. It was really another and more expensive form

of black-mail, as the men were of no actual use, and would run away if attacked, leaving the traveller to his fate. It made no difference to them whether he was killed or not; and as they had usually received a part of their pay in advance, it was not worth their while to stay and take the risk of being killed in his defence.

MAR SABA (FROM THOMSON'S "THE LAND AND THE BOOK

"').

VISITING THE CONVENT OF MAR SABA.

333

"A great deal of nonsense has been written about the noble character of the Bedouin Arabs, their bravery, scrupulous honor, and other commendable qualities. Of course there are exceptions, and it would be strange indeed if a people numbering many thousands should all be rascals. But, taken as a whole, the Bedouins are a race of thieves, and their few redeeming traits are not sufficient to offset their bad qualities."

It was some time before sunset when they reached the Convent of Mar Saba, and found their tents pitched a few hundred yards from the walls of the building. Seen from the outside the edifice is more like a fortress than a religious establishment, as it has a series of bastions and towers, and its walls are thick enough to stand a long siege from anything except artillery.

Doctor Bronson told the boys that the monastery was founded in the fifth century by St. Sabas, or Saba, and is therefore among the oldest buildings of the kind in the East. It has an exposed position in the wilderness, and has been captured several times and plundered, the last occasion being about fifty years ago. In the seventh century it was taken by the Persians, and all the inmates were massacred; but the more modern captors have been satisfied with robbery, and sometimes the sale of the monks as slaves.

Ali had obtained a permit to visit the monastery from the Greek Superior at Jerusalem. He told the travellers that they must stop when forty or fifty feet from the gate, and wait till the letter had been presented. A dozen monks came to the top of the walls and surveyed the party, while the letter was attached to a string and drawn up. The permit proved to be all right, and a small door was opened by which one after another the strangers were taken inside. No Arab is ever admitted under any pretence, and consequently Ali remained outside while the party was conducted through the place by one of the brethren who spoke French.

They saw the cavern where St. Saba lived on friendly terms with a lion, the tomb where he was buried, the church, the bones of the monks killed by the Persians, and the rooms occupied by the brethren, and also by pilgrims from the Jordan on their way to Jerusalem. A tall palm-tree bends over the summit of the roof of one of the towers. It is said to have been planted by St. Saba in person, but, whether this be so or not, the tree is certainly of very great age.

There are about sixty monks in the convent, the most of them Russians, and all adherents of the Greek Church. They eat nothing but vegetables, and fast often, and the result is they are thin and feeble.

When not engaged at their devotions they employ their time in carving ornaments, crosses, and the like, from olive-wood and mother-of-pearl, which are sold to visitors or sent to Jerusalem. No woman is ever permitted to cross the threshold of Mar Saba, not even to escape the terrible storms which ravage the country at certain seasons. Harriet Martineau, Ida Pfeiffer, and other lady travellers tell how they were denied admission, and slept in a tower near the monastery, or in their tents in camp. The accommodations of the tower are very limited, and it is entered by a door which must be reached by a rope-ladder, since it is about twenty feet from the ground.

RUSSIAN PILGRIMS IN THE HOLY LAND.

As our friends completed their visit they gave a couple of francs to the brother who had conducted them through the place. The other brethren had spread their wares on the floor of the court-yard, and were waiting for the chance of selling something; but

nobody wished to buy. As they

gave the money to the monk he asked if it was for himself or the convent. When they said it was for himself he repeated the question in a loud voice, so that his companions could hear it and the answer which followed. Another franc was then added "for the convent," and immediately each of the monks gathered his possessions from the floor, and disappeared into an inner room. The strangers were shown through the little door, and, after a short stroll among the desolate surroundings of the convent, they returned to their camp.

The dragoman roused the party before daylight, and by the time the hills were fairly lighted up they were off for the Dead Sea.