from the neighbouring villages. There seem to be no gardens of any importance around the city, except those below Siloam. Wheat appears not to grow well near Jerusalem, and is brought from other quarters. The city has few manufactures, and no exports except of articles carried away by the pilgrims. There are nine establishments for the manufacture of soap. There are also nine presses for making the oil of The chief articles fabricated by the Christians, are rosaries, crucifixes, models of the Holy Sepulchre, and the like, carved in olive wood, the fruit of the Dôm-palm, said to be brought from Mecca, mother of pearl, or sometimes in the species of black, shining stone, found near the Dead Sea. Some of these are neatly executed. The concourse of pilgrims at Easter converts the city into a sort of toy-shop or fair.

sesame.

The climate of the mountainous tract on which Jerusalem is situated, differs from that of the temperate parts of Europe and America, more in the alternations of wet and dry seasons, than in the degrees of temperature. The variations of rain and sunshine, which in the west exist throughout the whole year, are, in Palestine, confined chiefly to the latter part of autumn and winter; while the remaining months enjoy, almost uninterruptedly, a cloudless sky. The autumnal rains, the early rains of Scripture, usually commence in the latter half of October, or the beginning of November; not suddenly, but by degrees; which gives opportunity for the husbandman to sow his fields of wheat and barley. During the months of November and December, the rains continue to fall heavily; afterwards they return only at longer intervals, and are less heavy; but at no period during the winter, do they wholly cease. Snow often falls in Jerusalem, in January and February, to the depth of a foot or more; but does not usually remain long. Rain continues to fall, more or less, during the month of March, but is rare after that period. During April and May, the sky is usually serene, the air mild and balmy, and the face of nature, after seasons of ordinary rain, still green and pleasant to the eye. Showers occur occasionally, but they are mild and refreshing. In ordinary seasons, from the cessation of showers in spring, until their commencement in October or November, rain never falls, and the sky is usually serene. If, during the winter, there has been a sufficiency of rain, the husbandman is certain of his crop; and is also perfectly sure of fine weather for the ingathering

of his harvest. The high elevation of Jerusalem secures it the privilege of a pure atmosphere; nor does the heat of summer ever become oppressive, except during the occasional prevalence of the south wind, or sirocco. In autumn, the whole land has become dry and parched; the cisterns are nearly empty; the few streams and fountains fail; and all nature, physical and animal, looks forward with longing to the return of the rainy season.

While Dr. Robinson and his companion made Jerusalem their home, they visited Bethel, Wady Mûsa, the Dead Sea, Jericho, Hebron, Gaza, and other towns in ancient Philistia. From the lengthened and very interesting journals pertaining to these excursions, we select and condense some notices respecting a few of the prominent scenes and objects.

The following is from the description of the approach to Wady Mûsa, which the travellers, in accordance with the common opinion, understand to be the ancient Petra in Edom.

"The heat (May 29) in the Wady was so great, and the prospect of the country so very limited, that we concluded to travel during a part of the night; stopping now to dine and rest, and intending to set off again at midnight. The evening was warm and still; we therefore did not pitch our tent, but spread our carpets on the sand, and lay down, not indeed at first to sleep, but to enjoy the scene and the associations which thronged upon our minds. It was truly one of the most romantic desert scenes which we had yet met with; and I hardly remember another in all our wanderings, of which I retain a more lively impression. Here was the deep, broad valley in the midst of the Arabah, unknown to all the civilized world, shut in by high and singular cliffs; over against us were the mountains of Edom; in the distance rose Mount Hor in its lone majesty, the spot where the aged prophet-brothers took of each other their last farewell; while above our heads was the deep azure of an oriental sky, studded with innumerable stars and brilliant constellations, on which we gazed with a higher interest from the bottom of this deep chasm. Near at hand were the flashing fires of our party; the Arabs themselves, in their wild attire, all nine at supper around one bowl; one after another rising and gliding through the glow of the fires; the Sheikh approaching and saluting us; and beyond all this circle, the patient camels lying at their ease, and lazily chewing the cud." Vol. 11. pp. 499, 500.

The usual road to Wady Mûsa from the north, passes up

the Arabah through Wady er Ruba'y, and so around Mount Hor, entering Wady Mûsa from the southwest. Our travellers, however, determined to approach the place from the east, so as to enter by the celebrated chasm in the mountain on that side. Accordingly, (on the 31st of May,) they reached the valley from the east, and followed it westwards along the fine little brook, which was skirted with an abundance of oleanders, then in full blossom. The valley is then shut in by sandstone cliffs, at first forty or fifty feet high, leaving between them a space of about fifty yards for the breadth of the ravine. Here is the commencement of this wonderful necropolis. The tombs begin immediately on the right; on the left, there are none for some distance further down. On the right, are three tombs which resemble some in the valley of Jehoshaphat. They are isolated masses of rock, about fifteen or twenty feet square. A little further down, on the left, is a tomb with a front of six Ionic columns. Directly over this is another sepulchre, the front of which, above the door, bears, as an ornament, four slender pyramids sculptured in the same rock; similar to pyramids which are said to have surmounted, in like manner, the sepulchres of Helena at Jerusalem, and of the Maccabees at Modin. This appears to connect the later sepulchral architecture of Palestine with that of the adjacent Arabia Petræa. The height of the rocks is first eighty or one hundred feet; the bottom has a rapid descent, and the sides become higher towards the west, varying from one hundred and fifty to two hundred, or perhaps two hundred and fifty feet. The height of these cliffs appears to have been greatly exaggerated; Burckhardt alone giving the true estimates.

All at once the beautiful façade of the Khuzneh ("the treasure" which the Arabs ascribe to Pharaoh) in the western precipice, burst on the view, in all the delicacy of its first chiselling, and in all the freshness and beauty of its soft coloring. This is one of the rare instances, where the truth of the reality exceeds the ideal anticipation.

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Nothing I had seen of architectural effect in Rome, or Thebes, or even in Athens," remarks Dr. Robinson, comes up to it in the first impression. It does not bear criticism as to

its architecture; though this at least is symmetrical. The broken pediment and other ornaments are not all in a pure style. But here its position as a part of the lofty mass of col

ored rock, over against the imposing avenue; its wonderful state of preservation; the glow and teint of the stone; and the wild scenery around; all are unique, and combine into a power of association and impression which takes complete possession of the mind."— Ibid. pp. 518, 519.

Further down, on the left, is the theatre, wholly hewn out of the living rock. The diameter of the bottom is one hundred and twenty feet, with thirty-three rows of seats, rising one above another, in the side of the cliff behind. Above the seats is a row of small chambers, excavated in the circle of the rock, looking down upon the scene below. Burckhardt estimates the theatre as capable of containing three thousand persons. This seems too low a number, for each row of seats would probably contain, on an average, more than one hundred persons. The cliffs on both sides are full of tombs ; while in front, along the face of the eastern cliffs, the eye of the spectator rests on a multitude of the largest and most splendid sepulchres. "Strange contrast! Where a taste for the frivolities of the day was, at the same time, gratified by the magnificence of tombs; amusement in a cemetery; a theatre in the midst of sepulchres!"

Pharaoh's Castle (Kusr Far'ôn) is the only structure of mason-work now standing in Wady Mûsa. It is a mass of walls mostly entire, but of inferior workmanship. On the south of this structure and of the triumphal arch, stands the lone column, called by the Arabs Zub Far'ôn. It is composed of several pieces, and is connected with the foundations of a temple. Preceding travellers have scarcely referred to one prominent fact, that the remains above referred to are but single objects amidst a vast tract of similar ruins. Indeed the whole area was once obviously occupied by a large city of houses. Along the banks of the stream, the violence of the water has apparently swept away the traces of dwellings; but elsewhere, the whole body of the area, on both sides of the torrent, and especially on the north, is covered with the foundations and stones of an extensive town. The stones are hewn; and the houses erected with them must have been solid and well-built. These foundations and ruins cover an area of not much less than two miles in circumference; affording room enough, in an Oriental city, for the accommodation of thirty or forty thousand inhabitants. The rock, in which all these monuments are sculptured, is

the soft, reddish sandstone of this whole district, resting on lower masses of porphyry, and extending a great distance, both north and south. The forms of the cliffs are often exceedingly irregular and grotesque. The only high point of all the sandstone tract, is Mount Hor. The softness of the stone afforded great facilities for excavating and sculpturing; though it has operated against the preservation of the monuments, except where sheltered from exposure.

A very remarkable circumstance is the color of the rocks. They present an endless variety of bright and living hues, from the deepest crimson to the softest pink, verging also sometimes to orange and yellow. These varying shades are often marked by waving lines, imparting to the surface of the rock a succession of brilliant and changing teints, like the hues of watered silk, and adding greatly to the imposing effect of the sculptured monuments.

Two styles of architecture are obviously predominant, the Egyptian and the Roman-Greek; or rather, it is the mixture and union of these two, which constitutes the prevailing style. The Egyptian is principally seen in the body or masses of the façades. The more classic orders of Greece and Rome are conspicuous in the columns and other ornaments. But even here all is florid and overloaded, indicating a later age and a degenerate taste. This amalgamation of styles may be accounted for, by the prevalence, first of the Roman influence, and then of the Roman dominion, which penetrated hither both by way of Asia Minor and Syria, and also from Egypt. This took place about the beginning of the Christian era. To that time and the following centuries, are probably to be ascribed the architectural skill and monuments, which now excite the wonder of travellers.

Most of these monuments were obviously tombs. The abodes of the dead were regarded in Palestine, as well as in Egypt, with profound veneration. They were constructed even with greater pomp and splendor than the habitations of the living. Nor is there any necessity for the supposition, that these excavations were intended, in part, as dwellings for the inhabitants. The wide-spread ruins which are visible, attest that a large and extensive city of houses, built of stone, once occupied this spot. Some of the larger and more splendid structures, however, seem not to have been sepulchres, but were more probably temples of the gods. Such exca