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REV. CANON HAMMOND; LL.B., ON 



are now ready ; in '62 the feast did not begin till past mid- 

 night. They judged, we were told, by the smell when the 

 lambs are sufficiently roasted. So once more the whole 

 Samaritan nation assembles round the furnace, and once more 

 the strident chanting is commenced. Everything that is done 

 is set to prayer or recitation. You can see that they are 

 waiting for a word, and when that word comes the pickaxe 

 descends, the covering of earth is rapidly cleared away, a great 

 cloud of smoke and steam curls upward to the sky, and when 

 it clears, the crosses, with the lambs attached, are drawn out 

 one after the other. The bodies are much blackened and 

 charred, but still the outline is clearly visible. " His visage 

 was so marred, more than any man, and His form more than 

 the sons of men.'* Each of the carcases is placed on a large 

 wickerwork tray and is carried to the trench before spoken of. 

 JSTow begins the true Paschal feast. Sitting on their haunches 

 like men in haste, their loins girt, their shoes on their feet — 

 hitherto they had gone barefoot — and their staff in their hand, 

 they ate the Lord's Passover. Some, I observe, as if to show 

 their haste, tear a portion of flesh from the body on the tray 

 and then walk about whilst they eat it. They are divided into 

 groups, one group round each lamb. There was no mistake 

 about the haste. In twenty minutes, Stanley says ten minutes, 

 everything but bones and a few remnants had disappeared. 

 These bones and remnants were then collected into the trays 

 or mats, a fire was kindled and every scrap and morsel was 

 consumed. So the Mosaic law requires, " And ye shall let 

 nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which 

 remaineth of it until the morning, ye shall burn with fire." 

 In '62 they searched the ground with lighted candles to see 

 w^iether any fragment had escaped them, but I do not think 

 that this was done in '61 ; the ritual varies apparently some- 

 what from year to year. And with this burning of the bones, 

 the Samaritan Passover, the only relic of Jewish sacrifice 

 remaining in the world," and a rite which, with some breaks, 

 has lasted for at least 2,000 years, came to a close. It was 

 now near midnight, so we bade a hasty adieu to our host and 

 descended the steep mountain side, the moon — " the moon that 

 shone in Paradise " — bathing every blade and leaf in liquid 

 silver. We descended to our tents in the beautiful valley, 

 feeling that this had indeed been " a night to be much remem- 

 bered," and this a 



Day in golden letters to be set 

 Among the high tides of the calendar." 



