NABLOUS. 
353 
sweetly as ever, and met me with her accustomed politeness 
and cordiality ; and the doctor, although rather depressed in 
mind, became eloquent very soon on the subject of the accom¬ 
modations of Palestine. 
“ ’Tis a ’orrible country,” said he; “I no want to voyage 
here again. De ruin are interess, but the hotel not good. 
Very bad hotel. I shall be content to arrive in Jerusalem. 
De Madam are a little indispose ; but lie shall be better when 
he arrive in Jerusalem. Sit down; take some coffee. Mon 
Dieu ! very bad country dis. To-morrow we shall depart on 
our voyage. ’Tis imposs to remain longer in Nablous.” 
We had some further conversation as we sipped our coffee, 
relative to the inconveniences and discomforts of Syrian travel; 
and it was a great source of pleasure to both parties to find 
that we had all endured the most intense physical tortures 
from the time of our departure from Damascus. 
It rained hard all night. In the morning, it cleared away, 
and we went out to explore the town. Nablous, called in 
Scriptural times Sychar, is a town of considerable import¬ 
ance, with a population of about eight thousand—-chiefly Jews, 
Christians, and Turks. There are some good stone buildings 
in the principal streets; and it has some pretensions to ba¬ 
zaars. It is well supplied with fruits and vegetables from the 
neighboring gardens, and oranges are brought up in large 
quantities from Jaffa. The streets are rendered rather more 
convenient for walking than those of most towns we had seen, 
by means of a deep pathway cut in the centre for camels and 
mules. 
On the left, as we faced toward the Jerusalem road, is Mt. 
Ebal; on the right, Gezeroum, on which is situated the syn¬ 
agogue of Samaria. Ebal is barren and rocky; Gezeroum, 
also rocky, but cultivated to some extent. We visited the 
Samarians, a sect claiming to have no relationship with any 
living tribe, and whose family records, it is said, extend back 
more than three thousand years. They are much like the rest 
of the population of Nablous, in physiognomy and dress; the 
number now living is about a hundred and fifty. 
