Towards noon, Mount Tabor separated itself from the chain of hills before
us, and stood out singly, at the extremity of the plain. We watered our
horses at a spring in a swamp, were some women were collected, beating
with sticks the rushes they had gathered to make mats. After reaching the
mountains on the northern side of the plain, an ascent of an hour and
a-half, through a narrow glen, brought us to Nazareth, which is situated
in a cul-de-sac, under the highest peaks of the range. As we were passing
a rocky part of the road, Mr. Harrison's horse fell with him and severely
injured his leg. We were fortunately near our destination, and on reaching
the Latin Convent, Fra Joachim, to whose surgical abilities the
traveller's book bore witness, took him in charge. Many others besides
ourselves have had reason to be thankful for the good offices of the Latin
monks in Palestine. I have never met with a class more kind, cordial, and
genial. All the convents are bound to take in and entertain all
applicants--of whatever creed or nation--for the space of three days.

In the afternoon, Fra Joachim accompanied me to the Church of the Virgin,
which is inclosed within the walls of the convent. It is built over the
supposed site of the house in which the mother of Christ was living, at
the time of the angelic annunciation. Under the high altar, a flight of
steps leads down to the shrine of the Virgin, on the threshold of the
house, where the Angel Gabriel's foot rested, as he stood, with a lily in
his hand, announcing the miraculous conception. The shrine, of white
marble and gold, gleaming in the light of golden lamps, stands under a
rough arch of the natural rock, from the side of which hangs a heavy
fragment of a granite pillar, suspended, as the devout believe, by divine
power. Fra Joachim informed me that, when the Moslems attempted to
obliterate all tokens of the holy place, this pillar was preserved by a
miracle, that the locality might not be lost to the Christians. At the
same time, he said, the angels of God carried away the wooden house which