2]6 



EEV. CANON HAMMOND^ LL.B., ON 



long to wait, for at the word ^tO^^U?, "they shall kill/' the 

 executioners suit the action to the word ; each man brandishes 

 his knife and seizes his lamb ; the next moment, he has drawn 

 that knife across its throat. Not a cry is heard ; not one 

 plaintive bleat ! A few convulsive struggles, as the blood 

 streams from the wound, and then all is over. " He is brought 

 as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is 

 dumb, so He openeth not His mouth." When their quiverings 

 have subsided the bodies are passed on from hand to hand and 

 are laid round the furnace. At a signal, the crowd rushes 

 forward to strip off the fleece — I cannot remember whether 

 they were skinned, as in the Jewish ritual, or whether, as 

 Stanley says, the wool alone was removed with the help of 

 boiling water — the command of the Law is explicit, " Not 

 sodden at all with water, but roast with fire." Before this was 

 done, however, indeed, almost as soon as the throat was cut, 

 some of the men dipped their fingers in the blood and streaked 

 the foreheads of the young children. I ask Shellabi what this 

 means, and he tells me that it is only the firstborn that are thus 

 marked ; a reminiscence, perhaps, of that first Passover, when 

 the dowposts were sprinkled with blood and the firstborn of the 

 Egyptians were slain. And then — and a touching sight it was 

 — the Samaritans solemnly and tenderly embraced each other. 

 As far as I could see, every man present embraced every other 

 man, kissing first the one shoulder and then the other, but the 

 younger men kissed the hands of the elders. It was a moving 

 spectacle — this pitiful remnant of a once powerful race, by this 

 kiss of charity proclaiming its oneness, its cohesion, its 

 devotion to the faith, on the occasion of their solemn feast, 

 and we thought of the " holy kiss " of the early church. 



But so far, the lambs are only slain ; now, the preparations 

 for the Supper must begin. Whilst the lambs are being 

 skinned by some members of the community, others, book in 

 hand, recite the appointed portions of their Liturgy, for every 

 act of the sacred drama has its own prayer or psalm. I 

 observe that at this point the women, who hitherto had stood 

 somewhat apart, now draw near to watch their husbands and 

 brothers. A little later and they all move to a long trench, 

 where the unleavened bread is to be eaten, A youth goes 

 round with a sort of tray, made of straw or wicker-work, on 

 which were morsels of unleavened bread, each morsel inclosing 

 a leaf or two of bitter lettuce ; he doles out a morsel to each. 

 There is some clamouring on the part of the children for more. 

 1 ask Shellabi — somewhat thoughtfully — whether we may not 



