MY HOME IX PALESTINE. 113 



Like the present town of Haifa, the existing monastery 

 of Carmel only dates from the early part of this 

 century ; but it is none the less a picturesque feature 

 in the landscape, and in fact forms the chief attraction 

 to the tourist, who seldom does more than ride through 

 Haifa, to pass the night with the Carmelite fathers. 



For seven centuries has this pious Foundation 

 represented Christianity in this corner of Palestine ; 

 and yet, to judge from the slender influence it has 

 exercised over the fortunes of the inhabitants in the 

 past, we may fairly assume that Haifa would have 

 remained an obscure and insignificant village to the 

 present day, were it not that, fifteen years ago, it was 

 selected as a fitting spot on which to plant a colony, 

 by a body of Germans, chiefly from the kingdom of 

 "\Viirtemberg, who had decided, upon religious grounds, 

 to establish themselves in Palestine. 



The founder of the Society, Mr Hoffman, was a 

 clergyman of the Lutheran Church, who had been 

 educated at Tubingen, and was for some years Director 

 of the College of Crischona, near Basle. He abandoned 

 his charge at Crischona, and founded a college at 

 Salon, near Ludwigsburg. He was shortly after 

 elected to the Diet at Frankfort, where he presented 

 a petition, signed by 12,000 persons, in favour of 

 Church reformation. 



At this time Mr Hoffman was publishing a journal 

 in which he elaborated the views which were now 

 formulating themselves in his mind, and his writings 



VOL. L H 



