This mission find their chief employment in distributing books and conversing with the people, and find a good deal to encourage them in their work. There is an increasing disposition among the Mohammedans to have intercourse with them, and to converse with them on the subject of religion. This is a promising circumstance. LETTER XIII. _Jerusalem, October 10th, 1836._ We left Jerusalem early on the morning of the 8th, for a visit to Hebron. Being informed that there might be some danger of robbery or evil treatment on the road, we applied to the governor for a guard, and received an order to the commandant at the pools of Solomon, the place where the dangerous district begins, for a guard. We left the Jaffa gate, and crossing the valley of Gihon, passed down a pretty plain to the south of Jerusalem towards Bethlehem. This plain is very fertile, but does not appear to be under cultivation to any great extent. On several parts of it we saw orchards of olive and other trees. When near Bethlehem we took the direct road to Hebron, intending to visit that place on our return. In the vicinity of Bethlehem is the tomb of the beloved Rachel. It is a high, oblong mass of masonry, of an old and venerable appearance. A neat stone building with a dome has been erected over it. We saw an encampment of soldiers under the olive-trees to the west of Bethlehem, and learned that Ibrahim Pasha had attempted to disarm a powerful tribe of Arabs that reside near the Dead Sea; that they had proved refractory, and that he had ordered a considerable force to the neighbourhood, and directed some of the powerful tribes that acknowledge his authority to aid in the work. There were in the vicinity of Bethlehem several thousand men, and the disarming of the tribe was going on. The whole district about Bethlehem is exceedingly rocky; more so than usual in this rocky country. This continued the case most of the way to the pools. The country to our right, that is west of us, rose higher, and on the side of the ridge were several villages; most of them had pleasant groves of trees near them, and there were extensive districts abounding with the olive, and plains finely adapted for cultivation.