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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 East. 



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 mediaeval 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 



