334 EXTRACTS FROM 
valley, where a bare hill close by is pointed out as the place 
where the house of Caiaphas stood. We also passed the place 
where the Philistines were encamped when David smote them; 
while later on came the ruins of the house of the aged Simeon, 
and the well of the Magi, where the Wise Men again beheld 
the Star in the Hast. 
This brought us to the saddle of the hill, where we found 
ourselves close to the garden-wall of the large Greek monastery 
of Mar-Elyas, which stands among olive-trees. From this 
spot there is a charming view of the broad stony grey-green 
valley traversed by deep gullies, which extends up to the 
heights on which Bethlehem is so picturesquely situated. 
These gullies and small valleys, as well as the general fall 
of the ground, all trend towards the mountains that enclose 
the valley of the Jordan and form ravines which pass through 
them down to the Dead Sea. 
To the south-west we saw in the distance a somewhat exten- 
sive olive-wood with the spires of the Latin Patriarch’s sum- 
mer residence towering above its dark masses. To the north 
the view was closed by the range of hills which we had just 
traversed, and to the west a maze of stony elevations, little 
valleys, and plateaus gave an interest to the landscape. 
After driving downhill for another quarter of an hour we 
reached the garden-walls of the small Maltese fortress of 
Tantur, a well-built medizeval castle which recalls the days 
of the Crusaders ; it stood on a hillside, with the white-cross 
flag of Malta waving above its battlements, and the adjoining 
buildings of the hospice bore witness to the benevolence of this 
old order of knights. 
Going uphill through the garden we came to the second 
wall and entered the paved courtyard, in the centre of which 
is a deep well. Count Caboga has converted this castle and 
hospice into an establishment for the relief of the country- 
people and sick pilgrims, and there he leads a pleasant 
