in with olive groves, and its buildings are interspersed with frequent palm-trees. It is said to occupy the site of the ancient Sychem. I know not whether it was there, indeed, that the father of the Jews was accustomed to feed his flocks; but the valley is green and smiling, and is held at this day by a race more brave and beautiful than Jacob's unhappy descendants.
Nablous is the very furnace of Mahometan bigotry, and I believe that only a few months before the time of my going there, it would have been quite unsafe for a man, unless strongly guarded, to show himself to the people of the town in a Frank costume; but since their last insurrection, the Mahomedans of the place had been so far subdued by the severity of Ibrahim Pasha, that they dared not now offer the slightest insult to an European. It was quite plain, however, that the effort with which the men of the old school refrained from expressing their opinion of a hat and a coat, was horribly painful to them; as I walked through the streets and bazaars, a dead silence prevailed; every man suspended his employment, and gazed on me with a fixed, glassy look, which seemed to say, "God is good, but how marvellous and inscrutable are his ways, that thus he permits this white-faced dog of a Christian to hunt through the paths of the faithful!"
The insurrection of these people had been more formidable than any other that Ibrahim Pasha had to contend with; he was only able to crush them at last by the assistance of a fellow renowned for his resources in the way of stratagem and cunning as well as for his knowledge of the country. This personage was no other than Aboo Goosh ("the father of lies")[1] who was taken out of prison for the purpose. The "father of lies" enabled Ibrahim to hem in the insurrection, and extinguish it; he was rewarded with the Governorship of Jerusalem, which he held when I was there; I recollect, by the bye, that he tried one of his stratagems upon me. I did not go to see him as I ought in courtesy to have done, during my stay at Jerusalem, but I happened to be the owner of a rather handsome amber tchibouk
- ↑ This is an appellation, not implying blame, but merit; the "lies" which it purports to affiliate are feints and cunning stratagems rather than the baser kind of falsehoods. The expression in short has nearly the same meaning as the English word "Yorkshireman."
