amount of labor must have been expended on these old high-ways of
the time when this territory was occupied by the Romans! And where
Rome walked she left her path well made, and she left the impress
of her thought in rock-paved road, or in the lasting marble of
her pillared temples and carven tombs.





"By the Watch-Tower"

CHAPTER VI.


Soon after entering the village of Coefrinje my dragoman had the
rare good fortune to find a former acquaintance, but whom he did
not know to be in those mountains. His name was Elias Mitry, who,
with his wife, had come up from Jerusalem to do missionary work
under the auspices of the Church of England. Although he was a
native of Palestine and talked very poor English, yet he offered
us a welcome to his humble home than which no more royal was
accorded us anywhere. The meeting with my dragoman was an
exhibition of genuine joy, and he seemed equally pleased to have
me in his home; especially did he consider it an honor to be my
host when my dragoman told him that he was escorting a "school-
master" through the land. In that land it seems that the teacher
is almost reverenced because of his profession, while, it may be
said by way of contrast, in some sections of my home land he is
scarcely respected because of his profession. Indeed, I was