252 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
thenticate the burial of Abel on the mountain, but it was the 
current opinion among the Greek Christians that this was 
his tomb. On the left, beyond the bridge, we saw a number 
of holes cut in the rocks like doorways, in which the Jews in 
old times buried their dead. They are called the tombs of. 
the Jews. Farther on we came to the village of Suharadan 
—a dirty gathering of dilapidated hovels ; and soon after, the 
village of El Sanean, situated on the slope of a hill. The 
valley on the left is well watered, and is fertile and beauti¬ 
fully wooded on the banks of the rivulet, having a fresh and 
verdant appearance, that contrasts pleasantly with the barren 
mountains on each side. El Sanean is made memorable to 
us by certain curious tombstones that we saw there, and by 
the vilest abuse that ever unoffending pilgrims received. An 
old woman, literally a living skeleton, covered with leather, 
followed us up all the way from the spring in the hollow, 
shaking her clenched hands at us, and shrieking at the top 
of her voice, “ Dogs that you are—get away from here. Be¬ 
gone, filth of the earth !” Seeing that we merely laughed at 
this (partly for the reason that it was all in an unknown 
tongue, and partly because when translated it sounded so lu¬ 
dicrous to hear this skinny old hag denounce us as barbarians 
and dogs, without the slightest provocation, so much like what 
we were in the habit of doing toward the Arabs ourselves, 
and so palpable a hit at travelers in general), the old wretch 
actually danced with rage, flinging about her arms and work¬ 
ing her jaws like some galvanized mummy. Our dragoman 
was so overcome with laughter that it was some time before 
he could give us the gist of her remarks. “ Oh, yes !” she 
shrieked, “ you may laugh, you dogs—you don’t know any 
better. You are nothing but dirt, scarce fit to be spit upon ! 
Begone from here, you grinning dogs, before I defile my hands 
by scratching your eyes out! What do you come poking 
about here for ? Why don’t you stay at home, where you 
are all dogs together? You want some bread, eh? Ha! 
ha ! that’s good ?” And here the ferocious old hag laughed 
so horribly with her toothless jaws that we fain rode off to 
escape further abuse. 
