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India: there had been very many in France; but they were now reduced to three or four: and, finally, there were some at Sabbation. His replies were given in a manner, which implied a desire to represent the numbers of his people as considerable; rather than in a way, which at all convinced us of his knowing the condition, or even the existing whom he offered this information. He stated the fact of the Babylonish captivity; and said that they were of the remnant which remained in the land, and of those who subsequently returned; but the narrative in 2 Kings xvii. 24. &c. they reject as a fabrication.

entering a city at no time celebrated for its hospitality, struck a very dismal impression upon my mind. They accompanied us a few paces: but it soon appeared that the gate was their station; to which, having received nothing from us, they returned. We learnt, in the course of the evening, that these were only a small detachment of a very numerous body of cunning women, who were fill-ence, of his brethren in other countries, concerning the whole city with their cries-taking up a wailing, with the design, as of old, to make the eyes of all the inhabitants run down with tears, and their eyelids gush out with waters. (Jerem. ix. 17, 18.) For this good service, they would, the next morning, wait upon the government and principal persons, to receive some trifling fee.

On entering the city, we reached, in a short space, the quarters of the Greek priests; where we obtained a room, a very dirty one indeed, but the best that was to be had.

The Christians in this city are all of the Greek communion. The priest's name is Baba Ysa. They are, in number, between twenty and thirty families there are between seventy and eighty males who pay the capitation-tax. We found them to be in mean circumstances, but very friendly. They purchased a few Arabic Testa

ments.

CONVERSATIONS WITH THE SAMARITANS.

In the evening we visited the Samaritan priest, Shalmor Ben Tobiah. He seemed surprised that we should know his name, and asked us how we had heard of him. When we informed him that | we knew him through previous travellers, he showed us the letter of a French gentleman, who had travelled three or four years ago this way, and had sent to make certain inquiries of

him.

In a little time, we were joined by various others of his people, in number about twelve. I was struck to observe that the character of the priest's physiognomy was far from Jewish that of some of the party was Jewish. He informed us, that, among their people here, some were of the tribe of Levi; namely, his own family, consisting of four boys and a girl: only this family, however, as he is the only man of that tribe. He said that there are four or five families of the tribe of Manasseh, and that all the rest are of Ephraim; excepting one of the tribe of Benjamin, who, while we were speaking, came in. In all, they are between twenty and thirty houses. About sixty males pay the capitation-tax. We asked him, how they would supply the priesthood, in case his family should fail: several replied, together, "It never fails." The priest, and his sons, alone, have the privilege of standing on the raised step before the Torah in their synagogue.

They said there were in Nablous a few Jewish houses fewer than their own. To our inquiries, whether there were any other Samaritans in the world, he replied there were some in England, some in America, some in Benderbeshire* near

I suppose him to mean Bushire, in the Persian Gulf, west-south-west, about 100 miles, from Shiraz. Bender is a Persian word, signifying a mart or emporium.

On producing the Hebrew New Testament, we asked if it was lawful for them to read it; the priest said that there was no restraint upon their reading any books whatever, and accepted the copy which we offered. We also gave him an Arabic New Testament.

He said they were all in expectation of the Messiah-that the Messiah would be a man, not the Son of God-and that this was the place, which he would make the metropolis of his kingdom; this was the place, of which the Lord had promised, He would place his name there. We asked what passages of the Pentateuch, according to their views, spoke of the Messiah. He quoted, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up like unto me, &c. This promise of the Messiah was not fulfilled in Joshua, for he was not a prophet.

We begged to see the celebrated manuscript. He made many difficulties, though he readily allowed us to see the synagogue. We pressed our wishes, however; when he said there were many things previously requisite: he must go first to the bath he must light up many candles, &c. We knew what this meant, and said that he would pay for all the candles ;* on which he consented to show us the manuscript the next morning.

We then went down into the synagogue with his son and many of the company; but he did not. accompany us. They made us take off more of our dress, than I had ever been despoiled of before-both my outer and inner shoes; and my "ferwi," a warm dress lined with fur. We saw several Samaritan manuscripts on a shelf, wrapped up in cloth: they were written on skin. On our asking their price, a young man said that they were not to be sold; that to sell them was "Haram" "prohibited;" and that every letter was worth a sequin. The Samaritan character they call Ebrani; and refuse the type which we call Hebrew, as an innovation.

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Thursday, Nov. 20, 1823-Early this morning, according to appointment, we visited the Samaritan priest. We waited for him some time; during which we placed in order our Bibles, and selected some texts on which we desired to converse with him. At length he made his appearance, and accompanied us into the synagogue. With great reverence, he produced the venerable manuscript, which he said was written by Abi

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sha,* grandson of Aaron thirteen years after the death of Moses, now three thousand, four hundred and sixty years ago. We were not permitted to touch the sacred book, but only to look at it, at about a foot distance: the page at which he opened showed, certainly, a very ancient manuscript, with the characters yet sufficiently distinct. He then showed us another of a similar form-apparently an exact copy-which he said was eight hundred years old. He also produced a few tattered leaves of Walton's Polyglott-part of Genesis. We asked if they did not consider the Books of Joshua and Judges as sacred, in the same manner as the Torah: he replied, "By no means: these two books we have, and we reverence them; but the Torah is our only sacred book. Joshua was not a prophet, but the disciple of a prophet, that is, of Moses."

We inquired in which direction they turn their faces, when they pray: he waved his hand in the direction a little right of the angle behind the altar that is nearly southward. In this direction is the city of Luz, which afterwards was called Bethel ; the place which the Lord appointed to set His name there.

We went out, and he directed his hand toward the hill Gerizim, to a point, a little beyond which is the spot whither they go "to bless." It may be observed, that the Samaritans here, according to the account which the priest gave of their tribes, are all within the enumeration of those six tribes mentioned Deut. xxvii. 12, 13, whose lot it was to repeat the blessings; the other six being appointed to curse on Mount Ebal. He also directed his hand toward the spot, where those were to stand who were appointed to curse.

although he acknowledged that he did not know where. We asked if there were any other passages: he quoted no other this morning; but, yesterday, he had already cited Deut. xviii. 15.

On coming out, we asked how long this synagogue had been occupied by them: he pointed to a small marble slab inserted in the wall, engraven with Samaritan characters; which, he said, recorded the period of their occupying this buildingnow four hundred and ninety years. There were two or three other slabs with Samaritan characters, inserted in like manner in the wall. That which records the date of their possession of the synagogue is in a small recess, on the left side of the door.

Three times a year they go up Mount Gerizim: but we did not understand what their services were on these occasions; not he said, to sacrifice, for fear of the Turks. When they do sacrifice, it is done in some private place, and in the city, that they may not be molested. We understood them to say that they had not a daily sacrifice.*

The house of this priest, and the synagogue which adjoins it, are very clean-a perfect contrast to the inveterate filth of the Jewish houses and synagogues, which we had seen at Tiberias and Safet; one only excepted, that of the Austrian consul at Tiberias. Whether this is owing to the national character of the Samaritans-if NATIONAL be a term applicable to a hundred persons-or whether it is owing to their being in tolerably easy circumstances, or whether it is the case with the priest's house alone, which was the only one we visited, it is not in my power to judge.

The priest, in a very friendly manner, asked us to take up our lodging with him for the night; as We asked if the report was true, that, in any he had done on the evening before: but we designway, they worshipped the symbol of a dove-look-ed to leave at noon; and, therefore, bid him fareing, at the same time, to see if the emblem of the dove was any where to be seen on the curtain, which screens the altar, as some had said. He replied, "It is a falsehood of the Jews, who endeavor to calumniate us."

As to Jerusalem, they have no respect for it as a holy city; regarding the Jews as their rivals, and speaking entirely in the spirit of the woman of Samaria (John iv. 20:) Our fathers worshipped in this mountain.

We then produced a few passages in the Pentateuch, concerning which we desired to know his opinion, whether or no they referred to the Messiah. Genesis iii. 15, (I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt hruise his heel) he said did NOT refer to the Messiah. Genesis xlix. 10, (The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come) they consider as a prophecy of the Messiah, who is Shiloh: and, when pressed on the circumstance, that the sceptre was already departed from Judah, he gave the explanation which many of the Jews give, that Judah has always hitherto existed and still exists somewhere in the world, exercising regal authority;

well. He desired us to join our fingers together with his, in token, as he said, that the English were his friends; adding, that he wished to be considered as under English protection.†

* When, on a subsequent occasion, I passed through Nablous, the chief layman of the Samaritans told me, that, at the passover, they still sacrifice and eat the Paschal Lamb.

t On the subject of the Samaritans, the reader may consult Basnage's history of the Jews; and also Prideaux's Connexion, Part 1. Book 2. The fol

lowing extract is from Prideaux :

"There is an old copy of the Samaritan Pentateuch now shown at Shechem, (or Nablous, as they now call it,) the head seat of that sect, which would put this matter beyond all dispute, were that true which is said of it. For they tell us, that therein are written these words:-"I Abishua, the son of Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the of the tabernacle of the congregation, in the 13th High Priest, have transcribed this copy at the door year of the children of Israel's entrance into the Holy Land." But Dr. Huntington, late bishop of Rapho in Ireland, having, while chaplain to the Turkey Company at Aleppo, been at Shechem, and there examined this copy upon the spot, found no such words on the manuscript, nor thought the copy ancient. Whether the Samaritans did, in ancient times, absolutely reject all the other Scriptures besides the Pentateuch, some do doubt; because it + According to our computation, it should be 3261 is certain, from the discourse of the woman of Samayears ago. Probably the mistake was ours in hear-ria with our Saviour, that they had the same expecing him. tations of a Messiah that the Jews had; and this they

* We understood him to say grandson; but Abishua was great grandson. See 1 Chron. vi. 4.

REMARKS ON THE SAMARITANS.

The character, and indeed the existence to the present day, of this now-diminished people, must appear a very singular fact. They seem to have made Nablous, what it anciently was to the Israelites when its name was Shechem, their City of Refuge and here, in some faint sense, to have found security. Were their own account of their genealogy to be admitted, they might almost be regarded-according to our view of the division of the twelve tribes between Rehoboam and Jeroboam-as representing the most ancient schism in the Church of God. This would place them on a footing of greater antiquity than even the Karaim; who claim for their date the return from the Babylonish captivity.

shipping they knew not what-an expression so similar to that in the Acts of the Apostles (xvii. 23,) that it seems to describe them, while partially enlightened, yet to be little better than heathens: and He accordingly directs His disciples, in the same verse, to decline going either to Gentiles or Samaritans; plainly intimating that the Samaritans were not to be accounted, any more than the Gentiles, as of the house of Israel. (Matt. x. 5, 6.) He, also, expressly denominated the Samaritan leper, a stranger. (Luke xvii. 18.)

Their existence to the present day, maintaining that very geographical post, to which, in consequence of their opinions, they must in every age have been most partial, demonstrates, in a high degree, the extreme tenaciousness of party spirit. Christianity-for this was once a Christian Bishopric-appears not to have dislodged these ancient tenants of the mountains of Ephraim. In what light their future conversion is to be regarded, whether as belonging to the operations of general Missionary Societies or of Societies for the Jews, might be a question of some nicety, were it requisite to speculate upon it. They are, however, too small a body-nearly confined, as there is reason to believe, to this one district-to be considered as peculiarly interesting to any one society more than another; unless (which is a mere conjecture) they should be in the secret possession of facts, which might serve as a clue to any discoveIt is easy to account, therefore, for their repug-ries relative to the ten tribes. In a historical nance to receive a large portion of the books of our holy Scriptures.

Of the true origin of the Samaritans, however, we shall naturally judge from those Scriptures, which are by us received as canonical. A mingled race-principally Cuthean, though partly, perhaps, of Israelitish blood-they have, in the course of ages, vainly endeavored to claim as an hereditary right every privilege of Israel; and to identify themselves, almost in a more exclusive manner than the Jews themselves, with the great Hebrew Legislator. Their pretensions have never been, to this day, admitted by the Jews; and, by our Lord himself, they were repeatedly spoken of and treated as strangers.

The history of the Kings of Judah and Israel, (although they acknowledge the fact, there recorded, of the Babylonish captivity,) must be, above all, peculiarly obnoxious, as fixing upon them the stigma of a spurious and idolatrous origin. See 2 Kings xvii. 34-41.

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The Psalms, designed for the spiritual edification of the church in every place and age, yet record their rejection, and declare the superior favor shown to their rival city Jerusalem:Moreover, he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim. But chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Sion which he loved." (Psalm lxvii. 67, 68, with other similar passages.) This invaluable treasure of devotion is, therefore, in a manner lost to them.

Isaiah must offend them, as he everywhere uses the terms of Zion and Jerusalem, in describing the seat of the Messiah's kingdom. Jeremiah confirms the expressions quoted from the Psalms. (Jer. vii. 15, also iii. 17.) Micah gives to Bethlehem the honor of Messiah's birth. Daniel, in his prayer, declares Jerusalem to be the holy mountain of God. And thus it is with many other passages of the Old Testament.

Our Lord expressly charges them with wor

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point of view, they are certainly a kind of religious curiosity in a practical view, they will probably be regarded alike by all missionaries as calling for prayer and exertion. May they be brought to flee to the sinner's only city of refuge, of whom this city was a type-even to Him, who here graciously announced himself to a sinful woman of Samaria, as the Christ, the Saviour of the world!

DEPARTURE FROM NABLOUS.

Having, with much difficulty, compelled our guides to prepare for departure from Nablous, they declaring that the whole city and country were in confusion on account of the death of the governor, we set off, at length, considerably after twelve o'clock. At the gate, our servants were long detained for a trifling exaction; which we desired them, for the sake of all future travellers, to resist as long, and reduce as low, as possible. For about two shillings, they at length escaped with a great deal of abuse of us as Franks and Christians.

SANGYL.

We, in the mean time, took our route through the extensive and picturesque olive-grounds which lie on the southern side of Nablous. These open, at length, upon a fine valley, which stretches to the right and left; and which from its fertility, may well be regarded as a worthy portion for Jacob to have given to his beloved son Joseph. It runs nearly north-east and south-west: the valley of Nablous, being at right angles to it, lies consequently about north-west and south-east.

Leaving the valley of Nablous, the high-towering rocks of Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim

seemed to assume a more than common awful

ness; from the effect of a thick haze which was
just gathering upon the air. Winding on the right
hand round the base of Mount Gerizim, we gra-
dually ascended for some distance; having the
abovementioned valley of Joseph just beneath us
on the left.
We arrived only by sunset at the
ruined khan, called Khan Leban; and had now to
ascend a steep and rocky road, leading to the vil-
lage of Sangyl, when the sky burst upon us with
torrents of rain and furious blasts of wind, for half
an hour. On arriving at our poor village, we
went to the house of the only Christian family in
the place; who kindly made us a blazing fire, at
which we were glad to dry ourselves and take sup-
per.

BETHEL.

Friday, Nov. 21, 1823.-We started a little after sunrise, and began to descend into the valley; somewhere in the neighborhood of which was Bethel the spot where Jacob beheld the vision of angels; and received those encouraging assurances of the presence and protection of God, which were his support all his life long. Here, more than five and thirty centuries ago, this patriarch dedicated himself to the Lord, in terms, which are still well suited to express, what should be the moderate desire of every missionary-"If God will be with me and keep me in this way, and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on... then shall the Lord be my God."

The road through which we passed was, in many parts, very picturesque; but a more particular allusion to it will appear in a subsequent page.

APPROACH TO JERUSALEM.

On reaching the rocky heights of Beer, the country began to assume a more wild appearance. Uncultivated hilly tracts, in every direction, seemed to announce, that, not only Jerusalem, but its vicinity for some miles round, was destined to sadden the heart of every visiter. Even the stranger that shall come from a far land, it was predicted (Deut. xxix. 22,) should be amazed at the plagues laid upon this country: and this became, more | than ever, literally fulfilled, in my feelings, as I drew near to the metropolis of this chosen nation. Expectation was, indeed, wrought up to a high pitch, as we ascended hill after hill, and beheld others yet more distant rising after each other.

At length, while the sun was yet two hours high, my long and intensely interesting suspense was relieved. The view of the city burst upon me as in a moment; and the truly graphic language of the Psalmist was verified, in a degree of which I could have formed no previous conception. Continually, the expressions were bursting from my lips-"Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion!-They, that trust in the Lord, shall be as Mount Zion; which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever!-As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people, from henceforth even for ever!"

Among the vast assemblage of domes which adorn the roofs of the convents, churches, and houses, and give to this forlorn city an air even of magnificence, none seemed more splendid than that which has usurped the place of Solomon's Temple. Not having my companion with me, I surveyed all in silence and rapture; and the elegant proportions, the glittering gilded cresent, and the beautiful green blue color of the mosque of Omar were peculiarly attractive. A more soothing part of the scenery was the lovely slope of the Mount of Olives on the left. As we drew nearer and nearer to the city of the great King, more and more manifest were the proofs of the displeasure of that great King resting upon his city.

JERUSALEM.

Like many other cities of the east, the distant view of Jerusalem is inexpressibly beautiful: but the distant view is all. On entering at the Damascus gate, meanness, and filth, and misery, not exceeded, if equalled, by any thing which I had before seen, soon told the tale of degradation. How is the fine gold become dim!

Thus I went onward. pitying every thing and every body that I saw-till, turning off to the right, and having passed up what is called the "Via Dolorosa," from its being the supposed path of our Lord when he bore his cross on the way to his crucifixion, we, at length, alighted at the Greek convent of Mar Michael.

FIRST FEELINGS AND REFLECTIONS IN JERUSALEM.

During the first few hours after our arrival in the holy city, there was little to stir up the heart to a lively feeling, that this is really that venerable and beloved place, renowned above all others in Being apprehensive lest I should not reach the Scripture. Hunger, fatigue, and the cheerlesscity gate before sunset, Mr. Fisk having gone on ness of an eight hours' ride over a peculiarly desome way before me in order to prepare our rooms, solate tract of country, with no other refreshment I repeatedly desired the guides to ask the Arabs than a small jar of boiled rice and some bread, whom we met, how far, or according to the lan- would have been agreeably relieved by the wel guage of this country, "how many hours," it was come of pleasant countenances, sufficient food, to Jerusalem. The answer which we received and a warm room: but our apartments, which had from all was, "We have been at the prayers at not been occupied for six months, were floored and the mosque of Omar, and we left at noon"- vaulted with stone-fire-places are unknown in to-day being the Mohammedan Sabbath. We this land-our provisions were all to seek: and, were thus left to calculate our distance. The at this late hour of the day, scarcely to be found reply sounded very foreign to the ears of one, who-Hadjee Demetrius, the servant of the convent, knew that, formerly, there were scenes of purer in a sort of broken Turco-Grecian dialect, profferworship on this spot. "Thither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, to the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord."

ed his tedious and awkward services-the baggage was to be looked after-the mercenary and clamorous guides were to be (not satisfied: that was

an impossibility; but) settled with and dismissed -and, lastly, as if to diffuse a perfect sadness over our arrival, the storm, which had threatened and slightly touched us during the latter part of our stage, now began to fall in torrents, similar to those which had buffeted us on the preceding evening near Sangyl. Every thing combined to inspire a feeling of melancholy-congenial enough to those emotions with which the actual civil and religious condition of Jerusalem deserves now to be contemplated; but, in no degree harmonizing with those sublimer and more glorious thoughts, which the very name of this city generally awakens in the bosom of the Christian.

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When the evening had closed, however, and the hour for retirement, devotion, and repose arrived, all that I had ever anticipated as likely to be felt on reaching this place, gradually came into my mind, and filled me with the most lively consciousness of delight, at being in Jerusalem. This"-I thought "is no other than the city of David. Hither, the queen of the south came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Isaiah here poured forth strains of evangelic rapture, which will glow with unspent warmth till the end of time. Here, the building of the second temple drew from the beholders mingled shouts and tears; and, here, was that very temple, made more glorious than the first, by the entrance of the desire of all nations, the Messenger of the covenant! Here, after He had rebuilt the temple of his own body, he began the wondrous work of raising a spiritual temple to his Father-shedding abundantly upon his disciples the gift of the Holy Ghost, for which they waited in this very city; and then sending them forth as his witnesses to the uttermost parts of the earth."

Such were the principal thoughts, with which I had for some months associated this visit; and, now, all were gradually presented to my mind.

I felt, I confess, no particular anxiety to see what are called the "holy places." Many have hastened to offer their first devotions at the sepulchre of our Lord: so far from having this desire, I feel somewhat of repugnance at the idea: it is enough for me to know, that I am not far from that Scene- -that Gethsemane, and Calvary, and the place where the Lord lay, are all so near to me, that I can truly say, I am dwelling in the midst of them. All this, too, my heart can better conceive in the stillness of the night-season, than by the light of day. And He, who suffered here, still lives Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to day, and for ever! Spiritually he is as near to me, as he would have been had I seen him, this very day, at the ninth hour expiring upon the cross: the blood then shed is still fresh in its efficacy, and cleanseth us from all sin. If to have come hither should prove the means of raising me one degree higher in love to this adorable Redeemer, I would be thankful: but let me remember, that he desires us chiefly to view him with the eye of faith; and that, although "we see Him not in the flesh, yet, believing, we may rejoice in Him with joy unspeakable and full of glory."

Saturday, Nov. 22, 1823.-I was early awakened in the morning, by some person in the convent chapel striking a piece of wood. My room communicates with the upper part of the chapel, by a

lattice, at which the smoke of the incense soon began to enter the striking of the wood was instead of the ringing of a bell; and, in a few moments, I heard the voices of two or three ecclesiastics, commencing the drowsy monotonous chant of the Greek Liturgy. This service was observed by them every morning.

On rising, it was pleasant to view from my chamber window the mild scenery of the Mount of Olives. This mountain gradually increases in beauty, till about the second hour after sunrise ; when the swells and slopes upon its side present a very soft variation of light and shade, at this season of the year.

In the course of the day, one of the monks of the principal Greek convent called to bring the salutations of the Epitropi, or superintendents. Many others, also, who knew Mr. Fisk and his brethren in their former visits, came with presents in their hands, and inquired what Bibles and Testaments we had brought.

GREEK MONKS.

Sunday, Nov. 23.-In the morning we had divine service in our room; together with an English gentleman, now in Jerusalem.

After dinner several monks from the principal Greek convent called upon us; and conversed, as they may naturally be expected to do, concerning the calamities of their church. One of them stated the case thus: "Why do not the European Christian powers unite in putting down our enemies? We are your brethren: when Abraham heard that Lot was taken by the five kings, he immediately set off with his company, and overtook them, and rescued his nephew." I need not repeat, that, upon this topic, which we inevitably hear frequently discussed, we find it best to be silent-our office being rather to draw religious uses from the melancholy state of things; and to apply the remedy to the heart, out of which proceed wars and fightings.

ABYSSINIAN PRIEST.

Shortly after this party had left us, another person entered. The moment he opened the door, 1 exclaimed, “You need not tell me of what country that man is. This is an Abyssinian." His resemblance to the few Abyssinians whom I have seen, and to the living picture given by Ludolf of Abba Gregorius, in complexion, form, and expression of countenance, his dress, his manner, all bespoke his nation. He bowed, or rather crouched and fawned, toward us; repeating the word "Salamat"-I will not say a thousand, or even a hundred times-but certainly so often, and with such profuse servility, that we knew not whether to be more amused or wearied: and as this was his uniform custom at all future interviews, we as uniformly used to sum up our reply to him, in plain English," Salamat a thousand times!"—" A thousand healths or compliments to you!" Not that this brevity on our part caused him to intermit his reiterated Salamats: for whatever powerful effects western nations may attribute to a direct, brief, and blunt method of accosting both friends and foes, the men of the east are well acquainted

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