"It has already been attempted to illustrate the camel passing through the eye of a needle ;'* and at the time when this remarkable expression was used, our Lord was in a certain village, for in the preceding chapter it is said, that as he went to Jerusalem, he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee; and that he entered into a certain village.'

"Comparing, then, the usages of former times with those of the present day, our Lord and his attendants, as travellers, could only be accommodated in the public caravanserai, or khan, where indeed is found nothing more than shelter, as all the accommodation is a room with not a single article of furniture within it; and very frequently, in a country village, many travellers are lodged in the same room, but if not, in the same khan, probably in those days, as now, having an open area with chambers all round it. This open space is commonly occupied by camels and camel-drivers, who usually live and sleep in the open air with the camels. No one can have been often in one of these places without observing the camel-driver sitting on his heap of camel furniture, and either repairing it after his arrival, or putting it in order for continuing his journey. Our Lord, then, had a scene before him familiar and striking to the eyes of those whom he addressed.

"I cannot resist the inclination to point out how much more of our Lord's discourse on this occasion may be illustrated by the same very probable, almost certain supposition, that he was actually lodged as a traveller, in a khan. Before he came to it, as he was at the entrance of the village, he cured the lepers.

They were at the entrance of the village, not permitted by the Mosaic law to be within it; and the wretched victims of the same loathsome disease may be seen at any time, without the city of Smyrna and other towns, sitting by the way-side and imploring charity.

* For this illustration, see the passage on "Needles used by

Camel-drivers."

"The allusion to the lightning might have been taken from its actual appearance at the moment, being of continual occurrence in the summer months; and the flat-roofed chambers of the khan, upon which probably were many persons seated at the moment, afforded a figure of more expeditious flight than by descending into the area, and escaping by the door of the khan; and if any proof of this is wanted, the dreadful earthquake at Aleppo, in 1822, will abundantly supply it; for multitudes saved their lives by passing from roof to roof by the terraces, while those who went down into the streets were crushed by the falling houses.

"The figure of two men in one bed, is every moment before the eyes of a lodger in a khan, where the wearied camel-drivers are reposing on the ground, not in a fourpost bedstead, but wrapt up in their thick white felt cloaks, their only bed and bedding. The women laboriously turning round the ponderous stone in the olivemill, or the more portable stones of a corn-mill, must have been an every-day sight, either within or at the door of the khan; and no one has been in an eastern climate who has not witnessed the horrible tameness with which the vultures (or eagles) will approach the habitations of men, attracted by the dead carcases so revoltingly left on the spot where they have died-' Whithersoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.""-ARUNDELL'S Discoveries in Asia Minor, vol. pp. 191-196.

ii.

"Just as the sun went down, we passed a small khan -a busy scene. Some were unloading their asses, some spreading their mats for the night. One man was opening his sack to give his ass provender, and forcibly reminded us of Jacob's sons arrived at their inn."

Travelling from Sidon to Tyre, "we resolved to encamp for the night" at an "old dilapidated khan. Here, as the brief twilight came on, there arrived first one company and then another of mules, with tinkling bells, till the square of the building presented quite a

lively appearance. We pitched our tent on the roof of the old ruin, where the grass had been allowed to grow; and committing ourselves to Him that keeps Israel, lay down to sleep in peace."- Narrative of a Mission of Enquiry to the Jews, pp. 253, 258, 259.

"Some of the finest buildings in Damascus are the khans, or caravanserais, appropriated to the reception of goods brought in caravans from various quarters by wholesale merchants, who supply them to the retail dealers. In the course of our ramble to-day we visited several of these, and were much pleased with them all, but were particularly struck with the beauty of one that was superior to every other. It consisted of a spacious court, the entrance to which from the street was by a superb gateway of the pointed arch, vaulted and highly ornamented with sculpture. The court was paved throughout with broad flat stones, smoothly polished, and admirably joined together; and in the centre of this stood a large fountain, sending forth cooling and agreeable streams; the whole being crowned with a cluster of lofty domes. The masonry of this pile was formed of alternate layers of black and white stone... (and) the ornaments were profusely rich. -BUCKINGHAM's Arab

Tribes, pp. 335, 336.

"It was three o'clock in the morning when we reached Bucarest (in Wallachia).... We went first to the khan Rosso, to which we had been recommended; but after knocking and waiting half an hour, our answer was— 'No places no room.'. . . . While we were lingering cold and weary in the open street of this strange city, we heard the loud hum of many voices, and saw a large upper-room lighted up ;-it was a Jewish synagogue.

(A Jew) seeing our dilemma, offered to conduct us to a khan... where we found an empty room, in which we spread our mats. . . . . A strange scene presented itself to us, when we looked out in the morning. The khan was of large dimensions, covering apparently an acre of ground, with high buildings all around. The

ground-floor was occupied with horses and carriages of all kinds. The second floor was devoted to passing travellers, and the third to those who were to stay above six months. The second floor had a wide promenade all round, and on it were gathered groups from many different countries. . . . .

"This is the style of all Eastern caravanserais, and may illustrate the stable of Bethlehem.' There was no room for Joseph and Mary in the apartments set apart for travellers, so they had to betake themselves to the lowest floor; and there the shepherds found the Babe." -Narrative of a Mission of Enquiry to the Jews, pp. 384, 385.

TOWER AT MAHANAIM.

2 SAMUEL Xviii. 24–33; xix. 8.

"And David sat between the two gates: and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate unto the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold a man running alone. And the watchman cried and told the king.... And the watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called unto the porter and said, Behold another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings. And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, All is well. ... And behold, Cushi came. And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi answered, The enemies of my lord the king. be as that young man is. And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept : and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom! &c.

.

......

And

Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. they told unto all the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate: and all the people came before the king."

There is an account of an old castle at Tunbridge, in Kent, which may serve to explain the way in which the

tower of entrance in which king David sat at Mahanaim was built.

In this castle there is a noble room over the gateway, having two fine large windows. After the first gate (which is of enormous size) in the tower entrance, there is a pair of strong gates, and a few feet further another pair of strong gates, and between these two pairs of gates are two small doorways, one on each side, which lead to two rooms, one on each side of the gateway. Two more rooms are over these, and above them the grand state-room, to which they ascended by staircases, to which they went through the lower rooms; and from the state-room, staircases lead to the leads, or open top of the building.

Now, in looking at the account given us in 2 Samuel xviii. and xix., we see the tower of entrance into Mahanaim furnished, like the castle at Tunbridge, with two pairs of gates, the one at a distance from the other, the king sitting between them, not, we may justly believe, in the passage itself, so as to block up the way, or at all incommode those who might be passing, but in a room by the side of the way. We find a watchman on the top of the tower, made, without doubt, commodious for that purpose, by the staircases communicating with each other from the bottom to the top, as the English castle was flat, and covered with lead, for the purpose of descrying at a distance those who were coming, as well as wounding assailants. We find the observations made by the watchman were not communicated by him immediately to the king, but by the warder at the outer gate; and that there was a communication between this lower room, in which David first sat, and the upper room over the gateway, for by that means he retired to give vent to his sorrow.- -See a paper written by MR. KING, in the Archæologia. HARMER'S Observations, vol. i. pp. 416420.