2-979-533 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Desert Route - Christian of Nazareth, 1857. '...a wearied old pilgrim, a native of Nazareth...one whose grey and venerable beard proclaims him but a sojourner for a few fleeting hours in this world of sorrow. The old man may well be proud of his citizenship. Abou Moossa proudly proclaims himself from Nazareth, but poverty had many years since scared him away from his beloved native village, and Beyrout has since been his home, and will eventually be his Iong resting-place. The old man has grown blind with age, but he loves of a fine warm evening to be led forth to the roadside, where, seated on his accustomed stone in the quiet solitude, his soul seeks, by prayer, communion with that great founder of his faith who condescended to become his fellow-townsman, and with whom all Nazarenes may claim this high privilege up to this day'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.