THE HOLY LAND

165

stone fireplace.
There is scanty
furniture; these
peasant folk
live very simply
and their needs
are few.

Village Hospi-
tality.

In most large
villages the
headman or
sheikh still
takes care that
the guest-
chamber is
always ready
for travellers
who come that
way, and sees
that villagers
take their
proper turns to
supply this
room with food
and drink when
strangers arrive.
The guest-
chamber is
generally a large
room at the top
of one of the
more important

houses in the villages. A really dis-
tinguished guest will be offered roast
lamb or chickens ; sweet and very thick
black cof ee will be served, and fruits
both fresh and dry will be laid before
him. Less important people, however,
are contented with bread and olives,
and perhaps eggs, fruit and coffee.
Whether a visitor be rich or poor, dis-
tinguished or unknown, care is taken
to see that his animals are well looked
after.

Hill villages are built of stone taken
from the hill itself ; the houses huddle
closely together on the slopes or even
on the very hilltop, their dusty, crooked
and unpaved streets making things
difficult for people on foot if a laden

Witt F. Taylor.
A HUMBLE CARPENTER'S SHOP
We read in the "Scriptures that our Saviour was known as a carpenter,
and here we see a simple carpenter's shop of our own-times in the town
of Nazareth. It was at this town, not far from the Sea of Galilee, that
Christ made His home at one time.
camel comes that way. The backs of
the houses face the street; there are
no such things as. " front gardens"
here. Stone sheepfolds are attached
to many of these houses, for the chief
wealth of these simple villagers is in
sheep and goats which browse on the
thin pastures of the grey hillsides.
Lower down there may be little
patches of fertile soil in which the
peasants manage to grow grain, fruits
and vegetables.
In such villages as these the people
live in much the same fashion and
dress in much the same way as their
forefathers did in the days of Abraham.
Many of them are Moslems—followers
of Mohammed—and the language they