Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-04-23

of mis- own religion he must have done
it under great pressure. These syna-
gogues built under Roman auspices
were probably only an alternative
evil; they had to choose between hav-
ing them or none at all. With the
exception of one on Carmel AID
prohlematical one at Shefr Anvr, six
miles from Haifa, all the synagogues
hitherto found have been within the
immediate limits of what was former
ly the patriarchate Of Liberals. The
fact that the building at Eddikke
would be included in this district is
an additional reason for assuming it
to have been one of this class of syna
gogues, and if 50 we should probably
be accurate in fixing its date at some
where in the first or second century
after Christ.
From Eddikke / proceeded under
the guidance Of the old sheik, who
was much pleased at the satisfaction
which | evinced at his successful
leadership thus far, in an easterly
direction to another place, where he
assured me that the villagers had also
been at work getting out stone during
the summer, and had unearthed some
more old ruins. Oar way led us
along the flank of the Jaulan hills,
with the plain of the Buteiha on our
right, and after ride of about salf
an hour we reached village of huts,
in the midst Of which was the antici-
pated excavation. | could not quite
expect such another stroke of luck
as that which had befallen me at
Eddikke, but yet | had no reason to
be dissatisfied Here, upon a terrace
built of large blocks of basalt
about five feet ia height, found a
curious condition of things. The
villagers had laid bare, eighteen in
ches below the surface of the earth,
the cement floor Of an old chamber
about twenty feet in one direction. /
could not tell how far it went in the
other, as it was still covered with
earth, but where 1t abruptly termi-
mated it revealed, about eighteen in
ches beneath, another floor of some
building of much older date, across
which it had been built diagonally.
This floor was of stone. 1t, too, had
been cleared for some distance by the
natives, and upon it was standing at
intervals Of six feet apart five solid
cubes of stone, measuring two feet
each way, which had been the found
atoms of lower stones on which had
been placed the pedistals of columns.
AS this lowest floor was three feet
below the present surface of the
ground, the top of these stones was
one foot below it, and the line of
them may be continued, though only
five had been uncovered. / have no
means of conjecturing what the
building may have been.
[ found many fragments of columns
and capitals strewn around among the
ruins, which covered a larger area
than those at Eddikkc, and which like
them are new discovery, though
what its results may be must depend
very much upon further excavation.
/ impressed upon the villagers here,
as l had already done at Eddikke, if,
in the course of their excavation Tor
stone, they came upon any with in
or pictorial presentations
to preserve them, but | felt as | did so
that my words fell upon deaf or
rather unwilling ears. they gazed at
me with alarming solidity, either not
or not caring to under,
stand, and evidently dominated by the
fixed impression that my proceedings
implied in some way the future
ownership of the soil. | looked from
here wistfully up a valley, at the
mouth of which this ruin was situated,
and at the head of which others were
reported to exist, but circumstances
prevented me at the time from push
ing my explorations in this direction.
Indeed, travel in this part of the
country is attended with much diff
culties, some political and some
material, among the latter the chief
one being, if one is unprovided with
tent, the question of where one is to
spend the night. If, on the other
hand, one is provided with a tent, it
involves a much larger retinued in
creased expense, eXcites even more
distrust among the natives, and be-
cor2e sometimes dangerous from
arousing their cupidlty, and this
neoessitates having guards and
escorts, which are the cause of endless
quarrels and annoyance, as the more
people you have with you the less
are you your own master to go where
you like, and the more difficult it is to
provide for man and beast. Ii is
choice of evils at best of times, and
the worry and discomfort can only be
compensated by good luck in obtain
ing results, aud this is by no means
always to be secured, though thus far
on this particular journey | had had
no reason to complain. | now pro
pose to tempt fate ON the highlands to
the east Of Lake Tiderias, with what
success remains to be seen.
A Good Word for Stevens.
London Truth.
No doubt there are many people in