Mr.and Mrs.Nicholayson, of the London Jews Society, went with them to commence a mission among the Jews.
Everything looked promising for a few weeks, and Mr.Thomson went down to Jaffa to bring up his furniture.

During his absence, the Fellahin, roused by an order to draft every fifth man into the army, rose against Mohammed Ali, the then ruler of Syria.

Jerusalem was the centre of this sudden rebellion; and Mr.Thomson, for nearly two months, found it impossible even to communicate with his family, so closely was the city besieged by the rebels.

The first sense of personal danger to the mission families, arose from an earthquake of unusual severity, which extended to the coast and shook their old stone habitation so roughly that they were compelled to flee into the garden, and sleep there.

Here they were exposed to the balls from the muskets of the Fellahin outside the walls.