Various religious orders have houses here, and tourists are received in them as at hotels. A hospital has been established recently with girls from Palestine as pupil nurses. As many as three hundred cases have been treated in a month, and about twenty thousand have attended the clinics. Nazareth has given its name to all Oriental Christians, who are called "Nazareth-people."

Except cisterns, the spring of the Lady Mary is Nazareth's only source of water supply. It is practically certain that the mother of Jesus must have gone often to this spring for water for her household and balanced the full earthen jar on her head as do the women of Nazareth to-day.

SAMARIA

Samaria is the land where Elijah and Elisha performed many of the deeds with which we are familiar in Bible story. These two prophets warned the kings of Israel and tried to help them, but were unable to save them (1 Kings 20; 2 Kings 17).

A well-watered city. Shechem, which lies in the center of Palestine, is situated on a ridge which stretches across a beautiful and exceedingly fertile valley between the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim. Shechem, or Nablus, as it has been called for centuries, boasts of twenty-two never-failing springs, and has an elaborate system of irrigation. This city is practically the only place in Palestine where there is an abundance of water. It is the market for a large region and is the best business center in the country. Fruit, perfume made from the blossoms of the bitter orange tree, olive oil, grain, wool, sheep, and cattle are bought and sold here. The finer olive oils are shipped in goat or pig skins to Cairo, Alexandria, and Constantinople.

The city of Shechem has a population of 27,000, nearly all of whom are Moslems. No Jews dwell here, "for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans" (John 4. 9). Few Samaritans are left and their number is decreasing rapidly.

Shechem is built on "a parcel of a field" (Gen. 33. 19) which Jacob bought "of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father." Jacob dwelt here, and the mummy of Joseph was brought back from Egypt and is buried somewhere near by. Two miles away, at Sychar, is Jacob's well, where Christ talked with the

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woman of Samaria (John 4) about "living water." It is one of the very few spots in the Holy Land identified with the life of Christ which can be exactly located. It is now covered by a crude chapel owned by the Greeks.

The crown of pride.Ten miles northwest of Shechem is the small and squalid village of Sebaste, built among the imposing ruins of ancient Samaria. Upon the summit of a hill among the mountains stood this luxurious capital of the Northern Kingdom. Many "strange gods" were worshiped at this place. Ahab and Jezebel dwelt here in their "ivory house" and built "the house of Baal" (1 Kings 16. 32). Here Herod the Great, a ruler of Palestine under the Romans, built a temple for Augustus Cæsar. Ruins of the magnificent buildings are seen everywhere as Micah prophesied: "Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard; and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof. And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces" (Micah 1. 6, 7).

RUINS OF ANCIENT SAMARIA, PALESTINE

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1. Locate on your outline map of Palestine all the places mentioned in this lesson."

2. What industries were carried on in Galilee during the time of the Romans?

3. Some girl volunteer give description to the class of Jesus's life in Nazareth.

4. Name the disciples of Christ who were from Galilee.

5. Repeat the beatitudes that Christ gave the world on the "Horns of Hattin."

LESSON XVII

PALESTINE, ITS CLIMATE, RESOURCES, AND

PRODUCTS

PALESTINE is a land of narrow plains, picturesque mountains, rugged plateaus, and deep valleys. It has wide variations of climate and soil. The scene shifts continually as the traveler goes here and there within its narrow boundaries. California is the only region in our own country that has such a variety of scenery as that found in the Holy Land. The land rises to a height of about one and three fourths miles on Mount Hermon, and sinks to 1,300 feet below sea level on the shores of the Dead Sea, which is the greatest depression on the lands of the earth. The climate presents all the phases from the climatic conditions of Arizona to those of Labrador. The country yields a greater variety of food products than any other region of its size in the world.

CLIMATE

Palestine lies in the great arid belt of Southwest Asia, and is therefore dry. Its nearness to the Mediterranean Sea, however, gives it more moisture than some of its neighbors. Its varying altitudes present different climates.

The effects of altitude. In traveling across the country one passes through the subtropical regions of the plain bordering the Mediterranean Sea. He may go over the strip of sandy country around Jaffa or the much more fertile plain of Sharon and thence pass gradually into the hill country. As one proceeds he notices that the climate is temperate on the mountain slopes and that a great variety of vegetables and fruits are growing in the gardens. The summits of the highest mountains in

the northern part of the country are almost bare and cold, and snow is seen in the sheltered gorges.

In the tropical belt of the lower Jordan Valley and Dead Sea the thermometer sometimes registers 125 degrees. The direct rays of the sun are very hot, and one must protect the head or seek "the shadow of a great rock in a weary land" (Isa. 32. 2) where the temperature is about thirty degrees cooler than in the sunshine near by. Many of the houses are built with thick walls, high ceilings, and shaded windows, so even in summer the temperature inside is rarely above 80 or 85 degrees except when the sirocco from the desert is blowing. The hottest part of the day is just after sunrise, but the wind soon shifts and a breeze begins to blow. In the hills in any part of the country one usually has to wear a wrap after sunset.

Welcome rains.-The most unfavorable condition in Palestine, as in other parts of Southwest Asia, is the dryness of the country. Palestine has a long summer of seven months during which most of the streams become dry, the scanty grass withers, and the roads are full of dust and swarms of flies. The annual supply of rain of from twenty-six to thirty inches falls during the winter. All the people watch for rain, and the one who sees clouds in the sky over the Mediterranean reports it as did Elijah's servant of old, "Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand" (1 Kings 18. 44).

Soon after the clouds appear, lightning is seen in the sky, followed by a shower or two at night. In a few days the rainy season begins in earnest. There is much thunder and lightning, and the water falls in torrents. "It came to pass in the meanwhile, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain" (1 Kings 18. 45).

Careful preparations for the rainy season are made. The roofs of the mud houses are mended and often pressed with a heavy roller so no water will soak through them. The walls have been protected by bundles of sticks on the exposed side