LAKE HULEH (Semachonitis), which lies under Mount Hermon, is between four and five miles long and about four miles broad. Nebu Husha, or the tomb of Joshua, looks down upon it. The views all along the shores (where the hills of Naphtali and Basan close upon the lake) and the vista of the Jordan valley and mountains beyond, especially Hermon, are very fine. We now, as there is a deal of ground to cover before sundown, try a short cut into the valley without going by Hunin, the usual way. We hear of a path from the Bedouin, and after some difficulty find it. It is not known to the travellers’ guides, and it is just as well that it should not be, for it is a difficult dangerous descent, and one of our horses slipping in a bad place, very nearly brings great grief, both to himself, his rider, and the writer, who suddenly finds himself, with a frightened horse in front slipping, falling, and struggling, wedged in a track so narrow and precipitous that it is difficult to find room to dismount; once off, we do not remount until we reach the plain, and no greater damage is done than the loss of a bridle, but a halter is almost as good for an Arab horse. The animal bolted after his fall but we managed to catch him. The path afterwards, when we could find one, being little better than a goat track, we have some trouble to get the horses to face the steep descents. It saves however some hours of time, and is of immense service to us, as otherwise we should have been benighted in the difficult, dangerous, rough and swampy country at the head of the Jordan valley. As it is we are out 11½ hours in an almost tropical country, and do not get into Banias until after sunset, a bad time to enter any Eastern town, and then have to look for a lodging. But to go back a little, we get down into the Jordan valley, near Ain Belat, at the tents of the Ghawarineh Arabs. “Rob Roy” gives them a bad character, and says they attacked him, but they give us water and behave civilly. However we should not trust them too far, nor after dark. We are so glad to get down to level ground, so severe is the descent, that we think little of any danger from the wild denizens we drop down on. The scene here is remarkable, the black Bedouin tents, the dusky herds of buffaloes roaming among the marshes, the impenetrable jungles, the almost naked swarthy barbarians, together with the intense heat, make us imagine ourselves to be in the midst of the dark continent. Our advice to travellers going from Safed by Kedes to Banias, is to make a two day’s trip of it, and not one as we did, and then to keep up on the mountain, and descend by Hunin to the plain.