One fresh from Europe or America is tempted to supercilious airs, as if everything native to the country were inferior and vastly so. But a longer acquaintance emphasizes the fact that, the world over, our virtues, superiorities and so forth are put on in spots rather than in a consistent through and through grain. And one soon finds plenty of occasion in Palestine to blush for occurrences which must make a sensible native think us a very unlikely set of people to be receiving so many gifts from a kind Providence. The conditions under which they see most foreigners persuade them that lack of money does not exist in America and possibly that it is not very common in Europe. Then, too, they see so many childless married couples, these naturally being the freest to travel, or to undertake missions, that the contradiction of this apparent curse upon us mystifies them. And as to sanity of mind and clearness of religious doctrine or practise, foreigners in Jerusalem must often be on the defensive in order to keep even self-respect. El-Bîreh, with its eight hundred inhabitants, lies on the southeast side of a curve in the carriage road, fifteen kilometers almost due north from Jerusalem. From it Jerusalem may be seen. North of it on the opposite side of the carriage road is an unusually prominent watch-tower by which el-Bîreh can be located from afar. Local tradition says that Ibrahîm Basha (Pasha) camped near here. The people of el-Bîreh are all Moslems, except one family named Rafîdya, who number about eighty and are related to a household of the same name in Râm Allâh. These Rafîdyas take their name from a town near Nâblus, whence they migrated some years ago when their lot there become unbearable. They are now among the most prosperous dwellers in the village, managing the large new khân, the little store in it and the carriage business that runs a service between el-Bîreh and Jerusalem daily. They worship in the Greek Church in Râm Allâh. One member of the family is being trained in the Greek school in Jerusalem. One goes by the complimentary business epithet of _esh-Shayṭân_ (Satan), equivalent to _clever_. This family, or tribe, dwell in the northern part of the village, not far from the carriage road. Their khân is a typical country caravanserâi. Thousands of people pass it: messengers going up and down the country, village priests or teachers going to Jerusalem to get their monthly pay, sellers and buyers, caravans of wheat carriers from the Haurân, tourists, pilgrims, missionaries, mokaries, camping outfits, mounted Turkish soldiers sent to some village to bring in offenders wanted by the Jerusalem government or to collect taxes.