Dear little one, such love and constancy,
Shall surely never go without reward;
For God is good, and angels oft are given
To be on earth, for earth, a watchful guard:
I only know I fear, and fearing think
My love too near the lone eternal brink.

JEBEL USDUM AND THE DEAD SEA.

I WAS in Palestine in the spring of the year
1863, with a party of four friends. Our first
object, in common with most travellers who
visit that country, had been to see Jerusalem and
its environs. But we were unwilling at once after
this to adopt the usual course and proceed on
our way to Damascus. We had already
accomplished the ordinary excursion to the Jordan
and the north of the Dead Sea; and it was our
wish, ere leaving the neighbourhood, to see
something more of this celebrated lake, for both
its eastern and western shores are well known
to possess far greater attractions than the part
of the coast we had visited, although an
expedition to them is seldom included in a tour
through the Holy Land. The reason of this is
that they can never be explored without
considerable difficulty and even danger, while at
times the warlike state of the Bedouin tribes
in those regions, renders the journey utterly
impracticable.

Notwithstanding these drawbacks, we
determined to make every effort to reach the great
salt ridge called Jebel Usdum, on the south-
western shore of the sea, and thence to make our
way along the west coast to Sebbeh and Ain Jidy.

On our first arrival at Jerusalem we had
inquired the names of the several tribes through
whose territories we should have to pass, and
learned that between Hebron, Jebel Usdum,
and Ain Jidy, the country belonged to the
Jehâlîn Arabs; while the Ta'amirah were lords
of the soil from Ain Jidy to Bethlehem. These
tribes were on friendly terms, so that an escort
from the one could protect us through the
possessions of the other. Mr. Bergheim, banker at
Jerusalem, to whose kindness we are indebted
for much of the profit and pleasure of our stay
in the Holy City, undertook the management of
the affair, and endeavoured to procure the
necessary guard from the Ta'amirah. In doing
this, his first difficulty was to ascertain the
whereabouts of the Sheikh. The movements of
a Bedouin prince are never made public by court
circular, and there are times when he sees fit to
keep them unusually secret. It was on one of
these occasions that we sought the services of
the Ta'amirah chief. Some of his tribe had lately
committed a murder, and the Turkish government
was therefore anxious to discover his
abode.  He naturally viewed this anxiety with
apprehension, and thought it prudent for the time
to be neither seen nor heard of in Jerusalem. Mr.
Bergheim, however, succeeded in communicating
with him; but his demand for furnishing an escort
was three thousand piastres, a larger sum than we
felt inclined to give. As he refused to lower
his price, a Turkish guard was suggested; but
we were told that it was positively dangerous to
travel through the Bedouin territory under the
protection of the Sultan's soldiers; their
presence only exasperates the Arabs, with whom
they are on the worst of terms. Affairs were
in this condition, when our dragoman at length
came to us with the pleasing intelligence that
Abu Dahûk, chief of the Jehâlîn, was willing to
escort us for eight hundred piastres. Having
assured ourselves that he was in a position to
fulfil the terms of agreement which he proposed,
a contract was signed and sealed in the presence
of the English consul, between our party and
Sheikh Hamsa, the chieftain's agent at
Jerusalem.

The form of the contract may prove of
service to other travellers. At any rate, it had the
effect of causing the Sheikhs to bestir
themselves to the utmost, for their own sakes, in the
hour of need.

CONTRACT:

1. Sheikh Hamsa Abu Zarou engages with Lord
A—, Mr. B—, Mr. C—F—, Mr. N—
S—, and Mr. G—C—, to escort them to
Bethlehem, Hebron, Jebel Usdum, Sebbeh, and Ain
Jidy, for the sum of eight hundred piastres, four
hundred of which shall be paid in advance, the
remaining four hundred on the safe return of the above-
named gentlemen to Jerusalem.

2. The Sheikh further engages to pay fourfold
of the value of any article of property belonging to
the above-named gentlemen, provided that it be lost
by robbery.

3. In case of any dispute arising as to the terms
of the contract, it shall be settled by the British
consul at Jerusalem.

British Consulate for Palestine, at
Jerusalem, April 4th, 1863.
Signed on behalf of ourselves
and party of friends.
Seal of Sheikh Hamsa
Abu Zarou.
N. D. J. S.
C. T. W. F.
Attestation, &c.

We left Jerusalem on the afternoon of April
5th, and on reaching Bethlehem encamped for
the night, choosing a most picturesque spot
amidst some fine old olives, in a valley to the
south of the ridge whereon the village is built.
The next morning, we turned our horses'
heads in the direction of Hebron, when an
hour's ride brought us to the pools of Solomon.
After passing these, the path leads across
wild and uncultivated hills, covered with brush-
wood; and it was not till the afternoon that
we entered a more fertile region, and found
ourselves on the ancient road which runs
towards the south through the Vale of Eshcol.
On either side of us were terraced slopes clothed
with vineyards still kept with the greatest care.

We were now approaching Hebron, the highest
of the cities on the Palestine range, and
situated on the east of the valley down which
we had been riding. A gently sloping plain
opens out before it to the west, and on this our
tents were already pitched; but we could not
yet dismount, for it was an object to see the
city, as well as the tree called Abraham's Oak,