There are remains of an old Christian church here, which must have been a most splendid building. The pillars, and other parts which remain, have a richness of workmanship about them that excels anything that I saw in Palestine. Not much of them, however, remains. There are many indications about the town, and on the mountains, that a large city once stood here. Passing west along the narrow plain for a few miles, we then turned due north, and at the distance of eight or ten miles, we came to the site of ancient Samaria, the capital of the kingdom of Israel. The country around it is rocky, but very fertile. The rock is the soft limestone, which disintegrates so easily that very little is seen on the surface. There are about it more extensive orchards of olive and other fruit trees than are usually met with, and the whole aspect of the country is fine. Samaria stood on a low, broad, sugar-loaf hill. It seems to have been terraced all round, and all the way to the top; but the terraces were so wide as to admit a row or rows of houses, and a street. These rose one above another, and, when filled with houses, must have had a fine appearance. All are now gone but a few ruins, piles of rock and rubbish, and a few pillars. This hill is surrounded with a narrow plain, except at the east side, where a low ridge connects it with some adjacent hills, which, at a little distance, border this plain. Samaria was the seat of great wickedness while the capital of the kingdom of Israel, and now it lies desolate. It deserves notice, that the capital of both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah stood on the hill country, and distant about forty miles from each other, and each of them about midway from the Mediterranean to the Jordan. Jerusalem is on the highest ground, but Samaria on the most fertile. North of Samaria, we passed over a high hill. There is more brushwood on this hill than is usually met with, and among it some small oaks. On the north of this hill, the country presented a variegated, rolling surface, with more natural growth than usual, and a number of small villages and ruins. Many of the small plains were very fertile, and we saw some fields of cotton. As it grew dark, we reached a fine spring of water, and about it grew a good many fig and olive trees. We spread our mats and made our beds under one of them, and there spent the night. A number of other travellers encamped at the same place, and all slept under the trees in the open air.