334 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
chapels throughout Italy, and, altogether, it reminded me of the 
ordinary Italian churches. Most of the monks are Italians, 
from the Tuscan and Homan States. A school is attached to 
the convent, where the Christian children of the town are 
educated free of expense; a medicine-shop or infirmary also 
forms a part of the establishment; and we saw around the 
doors crowds of sick and afflicted creatures, to whom the 
monks were distributing medicines. It must be admitted, 
that whatever may be objected to these institutions through¬ 
out Palestine, their effect is beneficial to the poor people; and, 
in general, the monks who occupy them are kind and humane 
to all who need their assistance. 
By noon we were on our way toward Jerusalem. Ascend¬ 
ing the hill on the east, I stopped in a grove of olives to make 
a sketch of the town. The weather was raw and chilling, 
and I barely had warmth enough left in my hands to take a 
rapid outline of the principal points. My companions becom¬ 
ing impatient, I had to spur up old Saladin, and push on to 
make up for lost time. We soon came to the high range of 
bluffs overlooking the plain of Esdraelon. The view was 
very fine as we commenced our descent. On the left loomed 
up the beautiful and moundlike outline of Mount Hermon ; in 
front, at a distance of ten or twelve miles, the barren peaks 
of Little Hermon ; and beyond, inclining to the right, the vast 
and prairie-like plain of Esdraelon, a wilderness of rich land 
covered with wild-grass and weeds, and dotted at remote in¬ 
tervals with the ruins of castles and villages. Our road lay 
close by the reputed Hock of the Precipitation. Dr. Hobin- 
son discredits the authenticity of this as the true location, and 
believes the Hock of the Precipitation to be not far behind the 
Greek convent. He very justly argues, that an infuriate rab¬ 
ble would have had no object in carrying their victim so great 
a distance from the town, when there were precipices in the 
immediate vicinity quite as well adapted to their purpose. 
