sets his heart on revisiting the sacred remains of that decayed metropolis. When at the summit of the Mount of Olives, he is again struck with the mixture of magnificence and ruin which marks the queen of nations in her widowed estate. Owing to the clear atmosphere and the absence of smoke, the view is so distinct that one might count the separate houses. The streets are tolerably regular, straight, and well paved; but they are narrow and dull, and almost all on a declivity. The fronts of the houses, which are generally two or three stories high, are quite plain, simply constructed of stone without the least ornament; so that in walking past them a stranger might fancy himself in the galleries of a vast prison. The windows are very few, and extremely small; and, by a singular whim, the doors are so low that it is commonly requisite to bend the body nearly double in order to enter them. Some families have gardens of moderate dimensions; but, upon the whole, the ground within the walls is fully occupied with buildings, if we except the vast enclosures in which are placed the mosques and churches.

There is not observed at Jerusalem any square, properly so called; the shops and markets are universally opened in the public streets. Provisions are said to be abundant and cheap, including excellent meat, vegetables, and fruit. Water is supplied by the atmosphere, and preserved in capacious cisterns; nor is it necessary, except when a long drought has exhausted the usual stock, that the inhabitants should have recourse to the spring near the Brook Kedron. Rice is much used for food; but as the country is quite unsuited to the production of that aquatic grain, it is imported from Egypt in return for oil, the staple of Palestine.

There is a great diversity of costume in the holy city, as every body adopts that which he likes best, whether Arab, Syrian, or Turk; but the lower order of people generally wear a shirt, fastened round the waist with a girdle, after the example of their neighbours in the Desert. Ali Bey remarks that he saw very few handsome females in the metropolis; on the contrary, they had in general that bilious appearance so common in the

East,- -a pale citron colour, or a dead yellow like paper or plaster,—and, wearing a white fillet round the circumference of their faces, they have not unfrequently the appearance of a walking corpse. The children, however, are much healthier and prettier than those of Arabia and Egypt.

The Christians and Jews wear as a mark of distinction a blue turban. The villagers and shepherds use white ones, or striped like those of the Moslem. The Christian women appear in public with their faces uncovered as they do in Europe.

The arts are cultivated to a certain extent; but the sciences have entirely disappeared. There existed formerly large schools belonging to the Haram; but there are hardly any traces of them left, if their place be not supplied by a few small seminaries, where children of every form of worship learn to read and write the code of their respective religion. The grossest ignorance prevails even among persons of high rank, who on the first interview appear to have received a liberal education.*

The Arabic language is generally spoken at Jerusalem, though the Turkish is much used among the better class. The inhabitants are composed of people of different nations and different creeds, who inwardly despise one another on account of their varying opinions; but, as the Christians are very numerous, there reigns among the whole no small degree of complaisance, as well as an unrestrained intercourse in matters of business, amusement, and even of religion.†

It is well remarked by Chateaubriand, who had tra

* Travels of Ali Bey, vol. ii. p. 251.

+"The Mussulmans say prayers in all the holy places consecrated to the memory of Jesus Christ and the Virgin, except the Tomb of the Holy Sepulchre, which they do not acknowledge. They believe that Jesus Christ did not die, but that he ascended alive into heaven, leaving the likeness of his face to Judas, who was condemned to die for him; and that, in consequence, Judas having been crucified, his body might have been contained in this sepulchre, but not that of Jesus Christ. It is for this reason that the Mussulmans do not perform any act of devotion at this monument, and that they ridicule the Christians who go to revere it.”—Ali Bey, vol. ii. p. 237.

velled among the native tribes of North America as extensively as among the Arabs of the Syrian wilderness, that amidst the rudeness of the latter you still perceive a certain degree of delicacy in their manners ; you see that they are natives of that East which is the cradle of all the arts, all the sciences, and all the religions. Buried at the extremity of the West, the Canadian inhabits valleys shaded by eternal forests and watered by immense rivers; the Arab, cast as it were upon the high-road of the world between Africa and Asia, roves in more brilliant regions over a soil without trees and without water.

The Jews, the children of the kingdom,—have been cast out; and many have come from the east and the west to occupy their place in the desolate land promised to their fathers. They usually take up their abode in the narrow space between the Temple and the foot of Mount Sion, defended from the tyranny of their Turkish masters by their indigence and misery. Here they appear covered with rags, and sitting in the dust with their eyes fixed on the ruins of their ancient sanctuary. It has been observed that those descendants of Abraham, who come from foreign countries to fix their residence at Jerusalem, live but a short time; while such as are natives of Palestine are so wretchedly poor, as to be obliged to send every year to raise contributions among their brethren of Egypt and Barbary.*

The picture given by Dr Richardson is much more flattering. He assures his readers that many of the Jews are rich and in comfortable circumstances; but that they are careful to conceal their wealth from the jealousy of their rulers, lest, by awakening their cupidity, some plot of robbery or murder should be devised. The whole population has been estimated by different travellers as amounting from fifteen to thirty thousand, consisting of Mohammedans, Jews, and the various sects of Christians.

* Chateaubriand, Itinéraire, tome ii. p. 169.

CHAPTER VII.

Description of the Country Northward of Jerusalem.

Grotto of Jeremiah-Sepulchres of the Kings-Singular DoorsVillage of Leban-Jacob's Well-Valley of Shechem-Nablous -Samaritans-Sebaste-Jennin-Gilead-Geraza or DjerashDescription of Ruins-Gergasha of the Hebrews-Rich Scenery of Gilead-River Jabbok-Souf_Ruins of Gamala-Magnificent Theatre-Gadara-Capernaum or Talhewm-Sea of GalileeBethsaida and Chorazin-Tarachea-Sumuk-Tiberias-Description of modern Town-House of St Peter-Baths-University-Mount Tor or Tabor-Description by Pococke, Maun drell, Burckhardt, and Doubdan-View from the Top-Great Plain-Nazareth-Church of Annunciation-Workshop of Joseph-Mount of Precipitation-Table of Christ-Cana or Kefer Kenna-Water-pots of Stone-Saphet or Szaffad-University— French-Sidney Smith-Dan-Sepphoris-Church of St Anne -Description by Dr Clarke-Baalbec-Temple of AphacaVale of Zabulon-Vicinity of Acre.

UPON leaving the northern gate of Jerusalem, on the road which leads to Damascus, there is seen a large grotto much venerated by Christians, Turks, and Jews, said to have been for some time the residence, or rather the prison, of the prophet Jeremiah. The bed of this holy man is shown, in the form of a rocky shelve about eight feet from the ground; and the spot is likewise pointed out, on which he is understood to have written his book of Lamentations. In the days of Maundrell this excavation was occupied by a college of dervises.

I have already alluded to the Sepulchres of the

Kings, as very singular remains of ancient architecture, and standing at a little distance from the city. There still prevails some obscurity with regard to the origin and intention of these places of burial, occasioned chiefly by the fact recorded in holy Scripture, that the tombs of the kings of Judah were on Mount Sion. Pococke held the opinion that they derived their name from Helena, the queen of Adiabene, whose body was deposited in a cave outside the northern wall of Jerusalem,— a conclusion which, as it derives some countenance from the language of Josephus, has been adopted by Dr Clarke. M. de Chateaubriand, on the contrary, supposes these grottos to have been appropriated to the family of Herod; and in support of his views quotes a passage from the Jewish historian, who, speaking of the wall which Titus erected to press the city still more closely, says, "this wall, returning towards the north, enclosed the Sepulchre of Herod." Now this, adds the Frenchman, is the situation of the royal caverns.

But whoever was buried here, this is certain, to use the words of the accurate Maundrell, that the place itself discovers so great an expense both of labour and treasure, that we may well suppose it to have been the work of kings. You approach it on the east side through an entrance cut out of the rock, which admits you into an open court of about forty paces square. On the south side is a portico nine paces long and four broad, likewise hewn out of the natural rock, and having an architrave running along its front adorned with sculpture of fruits and flowers. The passage into the sepulchre is now so greatly obstructed with stones and rubbish that it is no easy matter to creep through; but having overcome this difficulty you arrive at a large room, seven or eight yards square, excavated in the solid body of the hill. Its sides and ceiling are so exactly square, and its angles so just, that no architect could form a more regular apartment; while the whole is so firm and entire, that it resembles a chamber hollowed out of one piece of marble. From this room you pass into six others, all of the same construc