stones, we came to the singularly terraced and unlovely hills that

betrayed that we were out of Galilee and into Samaria at last.

We climbed a high hill to visit the city of Samaria, where the woman may

have hailed from who conversed with Christ at Jacob's Well, and from

whence, no doubt, came also the celebrated Good Samaritan. Herod the

Great is said to have made a magnificent city of this place, and a great

number of coarse limestone columns, twenty feet high and two feet

through, that are almost guiltless of architectural grace of shape and

ornament, are pointed out by many authors as evidence of the fact. They

would not have been considered handsome in ancient Greece, however.

The inhabitants of this camp are particularly vicious, and stoned two

parties of our pilgrims a day or two ago who brought about the difficulty

by showing their revolvers when they did not intend to use them--a thing

which is deemed bad judgment in the Far West, and ought certainly to be

so considered any where. In the new Territories, when a man puts his

hand on a weapon, he knows that he must use it; he must use it instantly

or expect to be shot down where he stands. Those pilgrims had been

reading Grimes.

There was nothing for us to do in Samaria but buy handfuls of old Roman

coins at a franc a dozen, and look at a dilapidated church of the

Crusaders and a vault in it which once contained the body of John the

Baptist. This relic was long ago carried away to Genoa.

624

The Innocents Abroad