PREFACE.

Of the many excellent works on biblical topography, manners, and customs, which have appeared during recent years, there are few that can compare, and none that can surpass in pleasantness of style and graphic interest, the admirable work of the Rev. W. M. Thomson.1

In the course of a lengthened residence of twenty-five years, during which time he travelled several times over the length and breadth of Syria and Palestine, Dr Thomson obtained a knowledge of these countries, and amassed an amount of information relating to biblical incidents and associations, Oriental manners, customs, laws, and commerce, which few travellers indeed have been able to accomplish; while his avocations as a missionary during a quarter of a century, gave him opportunities of inquiring into sacred traditions and matters of biblical interest among the various native communities, which greatly enhance the value and authenticity of his narrative.

'A large part of these pages,' says the author in his preface, 'was actually written in the open country, on seashore and sacred lake, on hill-side or mountain-top, under the olive, or the oak, or the "shadow of a great rock: there the author lived, thought, felt, and wrote.'

1 The Land and the Book; or, Biblical Illustrations drawn from the Manners and Customs, the Scenes and Scenery of the Holy Land. By W. M. Thomson, D.D., Twenty-five years a Missionary of the A.B.C.F M. in Syria and Palestine 2 vols. 8vo. New York.

It need scarcely be stated that the present little volume contains a part only of the original work; but it is by far the most interesting and important portion,-viz., that which embraces and illustrates that section of the Holy Land where our Saviour spent the greater part of his life on earth. Commencing at Nazareth, where the youth of Christ was spent, the reader is conducted across the great plain of Esdraelon, passing in succession Mount Tabor, the supposed scene of the Transfiguration, Mounts Hermon and Gilboa, and the cities of Endor and Shunem, celebrated in Old Testament history. Leaving these scenes, the valley of the Kishon is entered, after which the great plains of Sharon and Philistia, and the many towns and cities which are spread over them, are next described.

Leaving Philistia, progress is made towards Hebron ; from thence the reader is conducted through the wilderness of Judah to Jordan and the shores of the Dead Sea. From Jericho the author proceeds to Jerusalem by way of Bethany. Of Jerusalem-El Khuds, 'The Holy'—and its adjacent spots of deepest interest, a most graphic account is given.

During his walk through the 'Land of Promise,' the author varies his narrative with notes on passing events, compares modern habits and usages with those of old, and in the words of an eminent authority, gives us an amount of information of the manners of the country, and throws a degree of light on the meaning of Scripture, unexampled, we do not hesitate to say, in the pages of any writer.