On our return, we visited the Khan Minyeh, and a little east of it a small Tell, by some identified with the site of Bethsaida, which, however, is by other authorities located on the east side of the lake. The towns on the shore of Tiberias have been destroyed, to a degree surprising when we compare them with contemporary cities in the Decapolis. In Jerash, in Ammân we were able to reconstruct the life of the people—their homes, their temples, their amusements; in Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum, Magdala we found, at the best, heaps of stones, and mounds grown over with grass and flowers.
In the absence of Khalil, Dieb, our friend of the night before, rode back with us to Tiberias, as, without a local guide, we might have found it difficult to know whereabouts to ford the many streams, which a twelve hours' downpour had swollen to considerable size. He was very useful and kindly, and filled the Lady's pockets with pretty shells from the lake, some of which must have been occupied, as she found two of them walking about, a month afterwards, in her hotel in Jerusalem.
[6] As an illustration of the esteem in which these acquirements are held we were told elsewhere the following incident:—A Franciscan friar, accustomed to ride between the widely-scattered convents of the order, was, on one occasion, traversing the desert on a very powerful young horse not yet properly disciplined. The party met with some Bedu belonging to a rich and powerful tribe, the shech of which was present. The young horse, possibly taking fright, or excited by the presence of the Arab mares always ridden by the Bedu, became violent, and tore off across the sands. The Franciscan, a very small man, and hampered by his habit, nevertheless retained his self-possession and his seat, and, in course of time, brought the animal back to obedience. The shech watched every manœuvre with the deepest interest, and when the priest returned to the party congratulated him very cordially, and offered him his daughter in marriage. It was explained that he was a priest. "I don't mind that," said the shech; "he is just the son-in-law for me." But the priest was poor. "No matter, he shall have her without payment of so much as a single camel. I have two daughters; he shall choose between them: he shall be to me as a son." History goes no further.