In parting from my Bedouin friends I shook hands with the three, and got one more good squeeze from Jona's disobedient Fatima. Then, according to Oriental custom, Jona hugged and kissed me. Females of the desert who are not Mohammedans are accustomed to kiss at will, the same as the men do. Jona was a kind-hearted, truthful old Arab. His wife's affection for me was pure desire for soul liberty, like a bird confined in a cage while other birds play in the trees. MARY MAGDALENE While the orb of day is kissing a fond adieu to the Syrina highland which overlooks the great city Tandmor with its two million inhabitants, two sojourners from the far East, with their usual escort, turn in beside the fast flowing stream of hot water which still gushed forth from under the once beautiful city of the desert. The fleet and pack animals gently kneel to be relieved of their burden, for even the patient ships of the desert become weary on their long journeys over the trackless, sand blown wilds. Long after the hum of the city had ceased and the silence above had thrown its dark mantle over the sleeping face of nature, we sat by the babbling brook discussing the strange report, which for nearly two years had been heralded from the vine clad hills of Canaan, to the effect that one Jesus of Nazareth, a carpenter, was imbued with spiritual power to the extent that he was healing all manner of diseases, and of late had raised a damsel twelve years old from the dead. Next day, while crossing the Desert of Hor, we could see Tandmor when twenty miles away, and on the fifth day we reached Palestine. The evening we arrived at Capernaum we found the west shore of the Sea of Galilee from the ford of the Jordan north to the hot springs of Tiberias, south, as well as the western hillside, literally strewn with groups of wise men from different parts of the world, together with the high and low of the Hebrew clan. As Magdala and Capernaum seemed to be the center of attraction, we staked our tent near, and soon learned that Jesus, the Wonderful, was a guest of one Simon, a fisherman, while his kindred were being cared for by relatives and friends of the family. Scribes from the South and far East were comparing notes and discussing His latest miracle of stilling the tempest, of which there was an abundance of proof that the storm, which was raging on Galilee, had subsided almost immediately, but as to Jesus having been the cause, there was a diversity of opinion. Many thought Jesus was mad or beside himself, while others said, "Has not God, in all ages past, at times, awakened the people in mysterious ways?" Others, among whom were the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem, declared him to be possessed with the devil, through which he healed the sick, fed the hungry and stilled the waves; and still others declared that his teachings were exclusively spiritual, and not materialistic. [Illustration: MARY MAGDALENE. THE HEROIC MAID OF GALILEE.] DINA OF ENDOR