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// ׺ 1940
º T H E ſ~ >
oDERN TRAVELLER;
A D E S C R IPTION -----
OF
THE V A. R. I O U S C O U N T R I E S
OF
T H E G L O B E.
-*-*-
BY J O S I A H go N DE R.
THIRTY-TH REE VOLU M ES.
VOL. I.
; P A L E S T IN E.
|
, L ON DO N :
RINTED FOR THOMAS TEGG, 73, CHEAPSIDE;
JAMES DUNCAN, PATERNOSTER ROW.
/ 6
, C. 74.
C O N T E N T S.
PAG ſº
¥5 OUND ARIES OF PALESTINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * * * * * * * I
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . ib.
MODERN POLITICAL DIVISIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
POPULATION AND COSTUME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tº dº is e < y : * 7
NATURAL HISTORY, CLIMATE, &c. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . II
GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE COUNTR Y . . . . . . . . . . 17
ROUTE FROM ACRE TO JAFFA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • - 18
RouTE FROM EL ARISCH to JAFFA ....... tº ſº tº e º 'º tº 43
ROUTE FROM JAFFA TO JERUSALEM . . . . . . . . . . . . • a 55
DESCRIPTION OF JERUSALEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
THE Mosque of OMAR.......... e tº a a e º 'º e s a * * * * * * * * * * 93
*FHE HOLY SEPULCHRE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . 123
THE JEWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . § tº e º 'º e a e º e º is & n & e 138
ICHNOGRAPHY, POPULATION OF THE CITY, &c. 141
TRADE AND GOVERNMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • 148
MoUNT SION ..................... $ it ſº gº tº g ſº tº $ tº e º e º & tº £ tº e • • I49
PLACES WITHOUT THE WALLS .................... 153
MOUNT OLIVET . . . . . . . . * * g e º tº is e º ſº º & e º e º is º º e s = e º 'º º º s e a 168
BET H LEHEM . . . . . . . . . . & © & e º & # * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 172
SOLOMON'S POOLS . . . . . . . . . . • - - - - - - - - - , , . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
ST, JOHN'S IN THE DESERT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
SANTA SABA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
IDEAL VIEW OF ANCIENT JERUSALEM . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
ROU"I'E FROM JERUSALEM TO HEBRON AND THE
3)EAD SEA . . . . . . . . . . © 4 º is a tº e º e s e tº tº s & º 'º g * * * * * * * * * * * is a e 194
W1 CONTENTS.
PAG ſº
THE DEAD SEA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * tº 0 & 0 & 9 º' s e 204
ROUTE TO JERICHO AND THE JORDAN . . . . . . . . . . 225
ROUTE TO NABLO US AND TIBERIAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
LAKE OF TIBERIAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . º e º 'º º 4 º' tº e 285
FROM TIBERIAS TO NAZARETH.................... 300
FROM NAZARETH TO SZALT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .* * * * * • - 312
MOUNT TABOR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . e s a e º 'º a tº e º 'º e a a 314
FROM NAZARETH TO ACRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • 323
FROM TIBERIAS TO DAMASCUS ..... tº º sº e º e s tº e - e º is g is 330
PAN la S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . 353
CONCLUDING REMARKS . . . . . . . . . . . . • * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 363
APPENDIX. (A.) NATURAL HISTORY ............ 367
—— (B') GLOSSA R Y . . . . . . . . tº ºn tº e º e º & © • - - - - - - 369
(C.) DESCRIPTION, &c. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
—— (D.) DESIDERATA...................... 371
DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES.
MAP of PALESTINE........... ....to face the Title.
VIEW of JER USA L.E.M....... ........... cºs • * * * * * ......... 69
-— BETHLEHEM . ............... ................ 173
PLAN of JERUSA L.E.M...... .............................. 870
ADVERTIS EMENT.
IN completing the First Volume of the MoDERN TRA-
ve LLER, the Editor feels bound to acknowledge the very
flattering reception which has thus far been given to the
Work. He ventures to infer, from the 'general appro-
bation the specimen has met with, that the promise held
out in the Prospectus has not been broken ; and he pledges
himself that no pains shall be spared to render the future
Numbers equally deserving of the public attention.
In giving a description of PALESTINE, it has been
thought necessary to go far more minutely into topogra-
phical details than will be either requisite or desirable in
the case of other countries. Every acre of the Holy
Land is connected with associations interesting to the
antiquary, the biblical critic, and the Christian reader.
The chief difficulty which has attended the compilation
of this volume, has arisen from the variety and copious-
ness of the materials. Yet, after all, there is ample scope
for the investigation of future travellers; and it is hoped
that this Volume will form a Vade-mecum, that may
facilitate and direct their inquiries.
Maundrell and Pococke still deserve to stand at the
head of those travellers who have visited and described
the Holy Land. The former is, perhaps, the most cor-
rect, and one of the most intelligent of all travellers :
and all that is to be regretted is, the brevity of his work,
The latter is indefatigably minute and laboriously learned,
generally accurate, but often fanciful, and, of course,
sometimes mistaken. Of preceding travellers, Sandys
alone has been found worth consulting ; but his credu-
litv is a drawback on the value of his testimony. Has-
ADV ERTISEMENT.
selquist and Van Egmont and Heyman have been found
of considerable use in reference to points overlooked by
their predecessors. Shaw has also been consulted.
Of our recent travellers, Dr. Richardson has been found
the most minute and faithful. He comes next to Maun-
drell in accuracy; and the favourable opportunities afforded
him by his professional character, have enabled him to
throw more light on the interior state and topography of
Jerusalem, than any of his predecessors. * Ali Bey
(Badhia) has supplied a few interesting details, but his
inaccuracy renders him an unsafe guide. Chateaubriand
has been found more correct than was anticipated, but his
assistance has been confined to Jerusalem. Dr. Clarke
has supplied by his learning some interesting illustrations;
but his account of Palestine is, perhaps, the least valuable
portion of his Travels. To Mr. Buckingham's Travels,
the Editor must acknowledge himself indebted for consi-
derable assistance. He has gleaned some valuable infor-
mation also from the Letters of Mr. Jolliffe, the Notes of
Mr. Connor, given in Mr. Jowett's Christian Researches,
the Travels of Sir Frederick Henniker, of Captain Light,
and of Major Mackworth.
To Burckhardt, and Burckhardt's learned Editor, sacred
geography is indebted for much valuable illustration, of
which the Editor has not neglected to avail himself. A
similar acknowledgement is due to those indefatigable tra.
vellers, Captains the Honourable L. J. Irby and James
Mangles. The ardent zeal which these gentlemen have
displayed for the prosecution of geographical science, war-
'rants the assurance which the Editor feels, that no apology
will be required for the use that has been made, or that
may be made, of their unpublished volume.
* See, in particular, his account of the Mosque of Omar, (pp. 93–
117,) which the Dr. had the singular good forture to be four times
permitted to visit; a favour never before extended to a Frank.
THE
MODERN TRAVELLER,
ETC. ETC.
P A L E S T IN E ;
OR,
T H E H O L Y L. A N D.
A District in the South-west of Syria, lying between Lat. 31 and
33% N., ánd Long. 34% and 37 E.; bounded on the N. by the
mountains of Libanus and Antilibanus; on the E. by the Syrian
Desert; on the S. by Arabia Petraea and the Desert of Suez;
on the W. by the Levant.]
PALESTINE, the land of Israel, the kingdom of
David and Solomon, the most favoured and the most
guilty country under heaven ; during between two
and three thousand years, the only section of the
arth where the worship of the true God was per-
petuated,—
“Over whoto acres walked those blessed feet
Which ess 'en hundred years ago were mailed,
For our advantage, to the bitter cross” ”—
this most interesting of countries is a small canton
of Syria, included within the limits of the Turkish
* Shakspeare.
PART I. R
2 PALESTINE ; OR,
empire, and governed by the pashas of Acre and
Damascus. In the map, it presents the appearance
of a narrow slip of country, extending along the
eastern coast of the Mediterranean; from which, to
the river Jordan, the utmost width does not exceed
fifty miles. This river was the eastern boundary of
the land of Canaan, or Palestine, properly so called,
which derived its name from the Philistines or Pales-
times originally inhabiting the coast. To three of the
twelve tribes, however, Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh,
portions of territory were assigned on the eastern side
of the river, which were afterwards extended by the
subjugation of the neighbouring nations. The terri-
tory of Tyre and Sidon was its ancient border on the
north-west ; the range of the Libanus and Anti-
libanus forms a natural boundary on the north and
north-east ; while in the south, it is pressed upon by
the Syrian and Arabian deserts. Within this cir-
cumscribed district, such were the physical advantages
of the soil and climate, there existed, in the happiest
periods of the Jewish nation, an immense population,
The men able to bear arms in the time of Moses,
somewhat exceeded 600,000; which computation,
when the Levites (20,000) and women and children
are added, will give nearly two millions and a half as
the amount of the population—as large as that of
Sweden.” The kingdom of David and Solomon,
however, extended far beyond these narrow limits.
In a north-eastern direction, it was bounded only
by the river Euphrates, and included a considerable
part of Syria. It is stated, that Solomon had do-
* During the Roman war in the time of Josephus, the pro-
Yince of Galilee alone furnished an army of 100,000 men.—Jos.
all. Jud. lib. ii. cap. 20. § 6.
# 1 Kings iv. 24.
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THE HOLY LAND. 3
minion over all the region on the western side of the
Euphrates, from Thiphsah (or Thapsacus) on that
river, in lat. 35° 20', to Azzah, or Gaza. “ Tadmor
in the wilderness” ” (Palmyra), which the Jewish
monarch is stated to have built, (that is, either
founded or fortified,) is considerably to the north-
east of Damascus, being only a day’s journey from
the Euphrates; and Hamath, the Epiphania of the
Greeks, (still called Hamah,) in the territory belonging
to which city Solomon had several “store cities,” is
seated on the Orontes, in lat. 34°45' N. On the east
and south-east, the kingdom of Solomon was extended
by the conquest of the country of Moab, that of the
Ammonites, and Edom ; and tracts which were either
inhabited or pastured by the Israelites, lay still fur-
ther eastward. Maon, which belonged to the tribe
of Judah, and was situated in or near the desert of
Paran, f is described by Abulfeda as the farthest city
of Syria towards Arabia, being two days’ journey
beyond Zoar. In the time of David, the people of
Israel, women and children included, amounted, on
the lowest computation to five millions, besides the
tributary Canaanites, and other conquered nations.
The vast resources of the country, and the power
of the Jewish monarch, may be estimated, not only by
the consideration in which he was held by the con-
temporary sovereigns of Egypt, Tyre, and Assyria,
but by the strength of the several kingdoms into
which the dominions of David were subsequently
divided. Damascus revolted during the reign of
Solomon, and shook off the Jewish yoke. At his
death, ten of the tribes revolted under Jeroboam, and
* 2 Chron. viii. 4, f Josh. xv. 55. 1 Sam. xxiii. 24; xxv.2.
t 1 Kings xi, 24, 25. See also 1 Kings xx, 34.
4 PALESTINE ; OR,
the country became divided into the two rival king-
doms of Judah and Israel, having for their capitals
Jerusalem and Samaria. The kingdom of Israel fell
before the Assyrian conqueror, in the year B.C. 721,
after it had subsisted about two hundred and fifty
years. That of Judah survived about one hundred
and thirty years, Judea being finally subdued and laid
waste by Nebuchadnezzar, and the temple burned,
B.C. 588. Idumea was conquered a few years after.
From this period till the era of Alexander the Great,
Palestine remained subject to the Chaldean, Median,
and Persian dynasties. At his death, Judea fell
under the dominion of the kings of Syria, and, with
some short and troubled intervals, remained subject
either to the kings of Syria or of Egypt, till John
Hyrcanus shook off the Syrian yoke, and assumed the
diadem, B.C. 130. The Asmonean dynasty, which
united, in the person of the monarch, the functions
of king and pontiff, though tributary to Roman con-
querors, lasted one hundred and twenty-six years,
till the kingdom was given by Anthony to Herod the
Great, of an Idumean family, B.C. 39."
At the time of the Christian era, Palestine was
divided into five provinces ; Judea, Samaria, Galilee,
Perea, and Idumea. On the death of Herod, Arche-
* Thirty-five years before the true date of our Lord's birth,
- which is computed to have taken place four years before the
vulgar era.
f The tetrarchy of Judaea consisted of the tribes of Judah,
Benjamin, Dan, and Simeon. The rest of the Holy Land,
according to the Roman division, consisted of Samaria, Galilee,
Peraea, Decapolis, Gaulonitis, Galaaditis, Batanaea, and Auranitis.
Samaria contained in it the tribes of Ephraim, Issachar, and the
half tribe of Manasseh. Galilee, the tribes of Zabulon, Asher,
and Naphthali. Peraea, on the other side of Jordan, consisted
of the tribes of Gad and Reuben. Decapolis was part of the
THE HOLY LAND. 5
laus, his eldest son, succeeded to the government of
Judea, Samaria, and Idumea, with the title of te-
trarch ; Galilee being assigned to Herod Antipas, and
Perea, or the country beyond Jordan, to the third
brother, Philip. But in less than ten years, the
dominions of Archelaus became annexed, on his dis-
grace, to the Roman province of Syria, and Judea
was thenceforth governed by Roman procurators.
Jerusalem, after its final destruction by Titus, A.D.
7], remained desolate and almost uninhabited, till
the emperor Hadrian colonized it, and erected temples
to Jupiter and Venus on its site. The empress
Helena, in the fourth century, set the example of
repairing in pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to visit
the scenes consecrated by the Gospel narrative, and
the country became enriched by the crowds of devo-
tees who flocked there. In the beginning of the
seventh century, it was overrun by the Saracens, who
held it till Jerusalem was taken by the Crusaders in
the twelfth. The Latin kingdom of Jerusalem con-
tinued for about eighty years, during which the Holy
Land streamed continually with Christian and Sara-
cen blood. In 1187, Judea was conquered by the
illustrious Saladin, on the decline of whose kingdom
it passed through various revolutions, and, at length,
in 1317, was finally swallowed up in the Turkish
empire.
half tribe of Manasseh. Gaulomitis was to the north of it,
Galaaditis was a hilly country, extending from Mount Lebanon,
through the half tribe of Manasseh, and the tribes of Gad and
Reuben. Further north, in the half tribe of Manasseh, was
Batanaea; and more northward was Auranitis, or Ituraea. Beyond
this, bordering on the territory of Damascus, was Trachomitis.—
PococKL's Travels, book i, chap. 1.
6 - PALESTINE ; OR,
** Trodden down
By all in turn, Pagan, and Frank, and Tartar, -
So runs the dread amathema, trodden down
Beneath the oppressor; darkness shrouding thee
From every blessed influence of heaven ;
Thus hast thou lain for ages, iron-bound
As with a curse. Thus art thou doomed to lie,
Yet not for ever.”
Palestine is now distributed into pashalics. That
of Acre or Akka extends from Djebail nearly to
Jaffa ; that of Gaza comprehends Jaffa and the ad-
jacent plains; and these two being now united, all
the coast is under the jurisdiction of the Pasha of
Acre. Jerusalem, Hebron, Nablous, Tiberias, and,
in fact, the greater part of Palestine, are included in
the pashalic of Damascus, now held in conjunction
with that of Aleppo, which renders the present pasha,
in effect, the viceroy of Syria. Though both pashas
continue to be dutiful subjects to the Grand Seignior
in appearance, and annually transmit considerable
sums to Constantinople to ensure the yearly renewal
of their office, they are to be considered as tributaries,
rather than subjects of the Porte; and it is supposed
to be the religious supremacy of the Sultan, as caliph
and vicar of Mahommed, more than any apprehension
of his power, which prevents them from declaring
themselves independent. The reverence shewn for
the firmauns of the Porte throughout Syria, attests
the strong hold which the Sultan maintains, in this
character, on the Turkish population. The pashas
of Egypt and Bagdad are attached to the Turkish
sovereign by the same ecclesiastical tie, which alone
has kept the ill-compacted and feeble empire from
crumbling to ruin.
The present mixed population of Palestine consists
THE HULY LAND. 7
of Turks, Syrians, Bedouin Arabs, Jews, Latin,
Greek, and Armenian Christians, Copts, and Druses.
In western Palestine, especially on the coast, the
inhabitants are stated by Burckhardt to bear generally
more resemblance to the natives of Egypt than to
those of northern Syria; while, towards the east of
Palestine, especially in the villages about Nablous,
Jerusalem, and Hebron, they are evidently of the true
Syrian stock in features, though not in language.
The Syrian physiognomy assumes, however, a cast of
features characteristically different in the Aleppine,
the Turkman, the native of Mount Libanus, the
Damascene, the inhabitant of the sea-coast from
Beirout to Acre, and the Bedouin.” Dr. Richardson,
on entering the country from Egypt, was struck at
the change of physiognomy, as well as of costume,
observable even at El Arisch, which is in the pashalic
of Egypt: the people are much fairer, as well as
cleaner and better dressed. The Turks, in Palestine,
as elsewhere throughout the empire, occupy all the
civil and military posts. Greeks form a very nume-
rous part of the population. A considerable number
of monks, of different churches and orders, still reside
in the Holy Land: there is, indeed, scarcely a town
of any consequence which does not contain at least
one convent. The country districts are, to a great
extent, filled with nomadic Arabs. The true Arab
is always an inhabitant of the desert ; a name given
to any solitude, whether barren or fertile, and some-
times applied to extensive pasture-lands. The move-
ables of a whole family seldom exceed a camel's load.
Nothing can be simpler in construction than their
tents. Three upright sticks, driven into the ground,
*
* Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, p. 340,
8 PALESTINI, ; OR,
with one laid across the top, form the frame-work,
and a large brown cloth, made of goat's or camel's
hair, woven by their women, the covering. The
manner in which they secure their animals is equally
simple. Two sticks are driven into the ground,
between which a rope is stretched and fastened at
each end ; to this rope the asses and mules are all
attached by the feet; the horses also, but apart from
the asses; the camels are seldom secured at all. The
dress of this people in the Holy Land consists of a
blue shirt or tunic, descending below the knees, the
legs and feet being exposed ; or the latter are some-
times covered with the ancient cothurnus or buskin.
Over this is worn a cloak of very coarse and heavy
camel's hair cloth, (the sackcloth of the Scriptures,)
consisting of one square piece, with holes for the arms,
but having a seam down the back. This appears to
have been the dress of John the Baptist, as well as of
the ancient prophets.” The cloak (or hyke) is almost
universally decorated with black and white stripes,
passing vertically down the back. The head-dress
is a small turban, resembling a coarse handkerchief
bound across the temples, one corner of which gene-
rally hangs down, and is often fringed with strings in
knots, by way of ornament. The usual weapons of
the Arab are, a lance, a poniard, an iron mace, a
battle-axe, and sometimes, a matchlock gun. The
usual veil worn by all the females in Syria, except the
Jewesses, is a large white handkerchief or shawl, 4-
which covers the head and face, and falls over the
shoulders. It is astonishing, remarks Dr. Richardson,
* Matt. iii. 4. Zech. xiii. 4.
# A red veil is worm by unmarried women and by brides; it is
the mark of virginity.
THE HOLY LAND. 9
what a light and cheerful air this costume imparts,
compared with the dull funereal drapery of the Egyp-
tian dames. In the dress of the pastoral Arabs, we
probably have preserved the most faithful represen-
tation of the ancient Jewish costume. The tunic is
evidently the inner garment or ziroy of the New
Testament, while the hyke or cloak corresponds to
the outer garment or lºoruoy. The usual size of the
hyke is six yards long, and from five to six broad ;
and as the Arabs sleep in their raiment, as the
Israelites did of old,” it serves as a bed or blanket at
night. The toga of the Romans, and the plaid of the
Highlanders of Scotland, are garments of the same
kind. The habits of the Bedouin natives have pro-
bably undergone as little change as their costume.
“ Abraham,” remarks Dr. Richardson, “ was a
Bedouin ; and I never saw a fine venerable-looking
sheikh busied among his flocks and herds, that it did
not remind me of the holy patriarch himself.”
The Turks wear what we consider as the woman's
dress, except that both sexes wear large drawers made
of fine linen or stuff. They, in return, say that the
Franks go naked, - referring to our tight clothes,
fitted to the shape. This is an ancient prejudice
in the East, and the manner of speaking throws light
on many passages in the New Testament, in which
being naked means nothing more than stripped to the
tunic. The Turkish dress, though a restraint on
activity, is, however, so much more seemly and be-
coming to the figure than the European habit, that
English travellers have confessed that they felt half
naked when mixing with orientals, before they had
assumed the dress of the country; or, as one gentle-
* Deut. xxiv. 13,
B Ö
10 PALESTINE ; OR,
man expressed it, like a monkey among men. Under
the tunic is worn a shift of linen, cotton, or gauze.
The turban is much more becoming than the hat,
which, as the mark of a Frank, is the abhorrence of
the Turk. Blue is the colour appointed for the turban
of a Christian ; white is the privilege of a Moslem ;
green is the distinguishing badge of the descendants
of the prophet. For a Christian to assume the white
turban would, in many places, endanger his life ; and
were any one to presume to wear a green turban
without being able to prove his title to it, he would
be put to death. Lady Hester Stanhope, however,
whose usual residence is at Mar Elias, in Mount
Lebanon, is said to have assumed with impunity the
sacred and forbidden colour.
Mr. Jolliffe gives the following minute description
of his Turkish equipment. “ The most important
part of the dress resembles very large trowsers, tied
round the waist with a running girdle ; the texture
is of cloth, linen, or silk, agreeably to the fancy of
the wearer...... Next to these is the kombos, a sort of
tunic with long sleeves, and descending almost to the
ancles ; it is fastened by a rich belt or sash, called
zennar, in which pistols and other weapons, gaily
ornamented, are carried. The daraben is a short
riding vest, worn occasionally over the tunic, instead
of the cloak called beniss, which is commonly of some
ſight fabric, and of a lively colour. But by far the
most graceful ornament is the bornos (or burnoose),"
a long, white, flowing robe, composed of silk and
camel's hair, and bordered with silk fringe. Nothing
* The burnoose is worn in Darbary and Egypt, but not in Pales-
time, where they wear the black abbu. The Turkish costume varies
in different countries, and undergoes seemingly a change of name.
The kombos is the same as the caftan.
T H E HO I, Y I, A N }). 1 J
can exceed the lightness and elegance of its texture ;
its shape is not unlike the ancient pallium, one ex-
tremity being usually thrown over the left shoulder.
The turban is extremely simple, consisting of a red
cap, decorated in the crown with a tassel of blue silk,
and having a shawl wound round the circumference.
The shawl may be of any colour except green ; plain
white is generally preferred ; but pink and light blue
are-occasionally worn.” The expense of a handsome
suit, and the usual accoutrements, exclusive of pistols,
&c., is about fifty pounds sterling.
NATURAL HISTORY, CLIMATE, &c.
THE geographical aspect of Palestine is not less
diversified than the appearance of its motley popu-
lation. Its prevailing character but imperfectly corre-
sponds to its ancient fertility; but this is chiefly
owing to the miserable state of vassalage in which its
inhabitants are held, together with the devastating
effects of perpetual wars, and probably some physical
changes. Those writers, ancient and modern, who
have represented it as barren, must be understood,
however, as referring only to the mountainous dis-
tricts round Jerusalem. Abulfeda describes Palestine
as the most fertile part of Syria, and the neighbour-
hood of Jerusalem as one of the most fruitful parts
of Palestine. An Oriental's ideas of fertility differ
sufficiently from ours, to explain in part this asser-
tion ; for to him, plantations of figs, vines, and olives,
with which the limestone rocks of Judea were once
covered, would suggest the same associations of plenty
and opulence that are called up in the mind of an
Englishman by rich tracts of corn-land. The land of
Canaan is characterised as flowing with milk and
12 PALESTINE ; OR,
honey, and it still answers to this description ; for
it contains extensive pasture-lands of the richest
quality, and the rocky country is covered with aro-
matic plants, yielding to the wild bees, who hive in
the hollow of the rocks, such abundance of honey, as
to supply the poorer classes with an article of food.
Wild honey and locusts were the usual diet of the
forerunner of our Lord, during his seclusion in the
desert country of Judea ; from which we may con-
clude that it was the ordinary fare of the common
people. The latter are expressly mentioned by Moses
as lawful and wholesome food;" and Pliny states that
they made a considerable part of the food of the Par-
thians and Ethiopians. They are still eaten in many
parts of the East ; when sprinkled with salt and
fried, they are said to taste much like the river cray-
fish. Honey from the rocks is repeatedly referred to
in the Scriptures, as a delicious food, and an emblem
of plenty. Dates are another important article of
consumption, and the neighbourhood of Judea was
famous for its numerous palm-trees, + which are
found springing up from chance-sown kermels in the
midst of the most arid districts. When to these wild
productions we add the oil extracted from the olive,
so essential an article to an Oriental, we shall be at no
loss to account for the ancient fertility of the most
barren districts of Judea, or for the adequacy of the
soil to the support of so numerous a population, not-
withstanding the comparatively small proportion of
arable land. There is no reason to doubt, however,
* Leviticus xi. 22.
# 1 Sam. xiv. 25. Psalm lxxxi. 16.
# They are mentioned in particular by Strabo, (lib. xvi.) by
Pliny, (Hist. Nat. lib. xiii, cap. 6.) and by Josephus, (De Bell. Jud,
lib. i. cap. 6, § 6, lib. iv. cap. 8. § 3.)
THE HOI, Y LAND. 13
that corn and rice would be imported by the Tyrian
merchants, which the Israelites would have no diffi-
culty in exchanging for the produce of the olive-
ground and the vineyard, or for their flocks and
herds.” Delicious wine is still produced in some dis-
tricts, and the valleys bear plentiful crops of tobacco,
wheat, barley, and millet. Tacitus compares both
the climate and the soil, indeed, to those of Italy,
and he particularly specifies the palm-tree and balsam-
tree as productions which gave the country an ad-
vantage over his own. + Among other indigenous
productions may be enumerated, the cedar and other
varieties of the pine, the cypress, the oak, the syca-
more, the mulberry-tree, the fig-tree, the willow, the
turpentime-tree, the acacia, the aspen, the arbutus,
the myrtle, the almond-tree, the tamarisk, the olean-
der, the peach-tree, the chaste-tree, the carob or
locust-tree, the oskar, the doom, the mustard-plant,
the aloe, the citron, the apple, the pomegranate, and
many flowering shrubs. # The country about Jericho
was celebrated for its balsam, as well as for its palm-
trees; and two plantations of it existed during the
last war between the Jews and the Romans, for
which both parties fought desperately. But Gilead
* In the time of Solomon, indeed, the king of Tyre obtained
wheat and oil in exchange for the timber he furnished for the
building of the temple, 1 Kings, v. 11. And in the apostolic age,
Tyre and Sidon seem to have depended principally on Galilee for
the means of subsistence. Acts, xii. 20. But all the rice is im-
ported from Egypt.
# “ Rari imbres, uber solum: exuberant fruges nostrum ad
morem, praeterque eas, balsamum et palmae.”— TAcIt Us, Hist.
lib. v. cap. 6. The palm-tree was the symbol of Palestine. Many
coins of Vespasian and other emperors are extant, in which Judea
is personified as a disconsolate female, sitting under a palm-tree.
# See Appendix.
14 PALESTINE ; or,
appears to have been the country in which it chiefly
abounded : hence the name, balm of Gilead. Since
the country has fallen under the Turkish dominion,
it has ceased to be cultivated in Palestine, but is still
found in Arabia. Other indigenous productions have
either disappeared, or are now confined to circum-
scribed districts. Iron is found in the mountain range
of Libanus, and silk is produced in abundance in the
plains of Samaria.
Generally speaking, the climate is mild and salu-
brious. During the months of May, June, July, and
August, the sky is for the most part cloudless ; but
during the night, the earth is moistened with a
copious dew. As in Persia, sultry days are not un-
frequently succeeded by intensely cold nights. To
these sudden vicissitudes references are made in the
Old Testament.” During the other parts of the year,
there is no deficiency of rain ; and to this circum-
stance the fertility of Palestine is chiefly attributable,
in the absence of springs. The streams with which
it is watered, with the exception of the river Jordan,
are all brooks or torrents fed by the copious periodical
rains. In the dry season, the only resource of the
natives is, the wells or the water collected in the
rainy season. Hence the high importance attaching
to the possession of a well in this country, and the
value set upon a cup of cold water. Throughout
Syria, the traveller perceives, at stated distances on
the road, small reservoirs or large vases filled with
water, having beside them a pot for the use of
passengers when thirsty. These monuments are
owing to pious foundations in favour of travellers;
* See Gen. xxx1. 40. Psalm CXX1, 6.
THE HOLY LANI). 15
but the greater part are falling into ruin." It is
remarkable that in Arabia, most of the inhabited
places are situated in valleys or hollows: in Palestine,
on the contrary, the towns and villages are almost
uniformly built upon hills or heights. The scarcity
of the rains in Arabia, and their abundance in Pales.
tine, has been with some plausibility assigned as the
reason for this difference. The floods in the rainy
season sometimes pour down from the hills with such
violence as to sweep every thing before them. The
Jordan, from this cause, formerly rose periodically
above its banks. Whether it has worn for itself a
deeper channel, or discharges its superfluous waters
by some other means, is not ascertained, but the rise
is now insufficient to produce inundation.
We have but imperfect notices of the zoology and
ornithology of Palestine. The Scriptures contain
familiar references to the lion, the wolf, the fox, the
leopard, the hart, the jackal, and the wild boar, which
lead one to suppose that they were native animals.
The wilder animals, however, have mostly disap-
peared. Hasselquist, a pupil of Linnaeus, who visited
the Holy Land in 1750, mentions, as the only animals
the saw, the porcupine, the jackal, the fox, the rock-
goat, and the fallow-deer. Captain Mangles describes
an animal of the goat species as large as the ass, with
long, knotty, upright horns; some bearded, and their
colour resembled that of the gazelle. The Arabs
called them meddn or beddn. The horse does not
appear to have been generally adopted, till after the
return of the Jews from Babylon. Solomon was the
first monarch who collected a numerous stud of the
finest horses that Egypt or Arabia could furnish. In
the earlier times, the wild ass was deemed worthy of
* Travels of Ali Bey, vol. ii. p. 210.
16 PALESTINE ; OR,
being employed for purposes of royal state as well as
convenience.* The breed of cattle reared in Bashan
and Gilead were remarkable for their size, strength,
and fatness.
In ornithology, the eagle, the vulture, the cormo-
rant, the bittern, the stork, the owl, the pigeon, the
swallow, and the dove, were familiar to the Jews.
Hasselquist enumerates the following from his own
observation : the vulture, two species, one seen near
Jerusalem, the other near Cana in Galilee ; the
falcon (falco gentilis and falco tinnunculus), near
Nazareth ; the jackdaw, in numbers in the oak-woods
near Galilee : the green wood-spite (picus viridis),
at the same place; the bee-catcher (merops apiaster),
in the groves and plains between Acra and Nazareth ;
the nightingale, among the willows at Jordan and
olive trees of Judea ; the field-lark, “every where ;’
the goldfinch, in the gardens near Nazareth ; the red
partridge (tetrao rufus), and two other species, the
quail (tetrao coturnia), and the quail of the Israelites
(tetrao Israelitarum); the turtle-dove and the ring-
dove. Game is abundant; partridges, in particular,
being found in large coveys, so fat and heavy, that
they may easily be knocked down with a stick.--
Wild geese, ducks, widgeon, snipe, and water-fowl
of every description, abound in some situations.
The Holy Land is at present infested with a fright-
ful number of lizards, different kinds of serpents,
vipers, scorpions, and various insects. It Flies of
* Judges, v. 10; x. 3, 4; xii. 13, 14. 2 Kings, iv. 24.
f Travels of Ali Bey, vol. ii. p. 210.
f Dr. Clarke, however, states that the maritime districts of
Syria and Palestine are free from noxious reptiles and venomous
insects, which he adduces in proof of the salubrity of the climate.—
Travels, part. ii. sect. x, chap. 3.
THE HOLY I, AND 17
every species are also extremely annoying. Ants are
so numerous in some parts, that one traveller describes
the road to Jaffa, from El Arisch, as, for three days'
journey, a continued ant-hill.”
The general outlines of the surface of the country
may be thus laid down. The Jordan, or river of
Dan, which rises under the lofty peaks of the Anti-
libanus, and flows in a direction almost constantly
southward, with the lake of Tiberias, through which
it passes, and that of Asphaltites (the Dead Sea),
which it forms by its discharge, divides Palestine
completely from north to south. In the western
division, between the Mediterranean and the lake of
Tiberias, lie the two Galilees. The plain of Es-
draelon, which occupies the greater part of this tract,
being two days’ journey, or nearly fifty miles in length
and twenty in breadth, is described by Dr. Clarke as
one vast meadow, covered with the richest pasture.
This plain is enclosed on all sides by the mountains,
and not a house or a tree is to be discovered in it.
It is completely commanded by Acre, so that the
possessor of that port is the lord of one of the richest
territories in the Holy Land. To the south of Galilee
lies the district of ancient Samaria, now chiefly in-
cluded in the district of Nablous: it is mountainous,
but well cultivated, and forms at present the most
flourishing part of the Holy Land. Judea Proper
comprises the territory extending from the Dead Sea
to the Mediterranean, and is composed of a range of
limestone hills, rising by stages from the level of the
coast, and becoming more rugged and rocky as you
approach Jerusalem from Jaffa. Between Jaffa and
Gaza, westward of the mountains of Judea, lies the
* Travels of Ali Bey, vol. ii. p. 210.
18 PALESTINE ; OR,
tract distinguished as the plain of the Mediterranean
Sea, the ancient territory of the Philistines, including
the five cities of Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Gath, and
Ekron.* This district still bears the name of Phalas-
tin,t and forms a separate pashalic; it may be distin-
guished as Palestine Proper.
Having taken this general view of the country, we
shall now proceed to describe it more in detail, by
tracing some of the principal routes. Those most
frequently taken are, in coming from Egypt, from El
Arisch, by way of Jaffa, to Jerusalem ; in landing
from Europe, from Acre, by Nazareth, to Jerusalem;
in coming from Syria, from Damascus to Jerusalem ;
and the route from Damascus to Mecca.
ROUTE FROM ACRE TO JAFFA.
DR. E. D. CLARKE, who visited Palestine in the
summer of 1801, landed at Acre, then under the do-
minion of the notorious Djezzar Pasha — an appella-
tion explained by himself as signifying the butcher.
This execrable tyrant, whose name carried terror with
it over all the Holy Land, at one time, shut up in his
fortress at Acre, defied the whole power of Turkey,
deriding the menaces of the Capudan Pasha, though
he affected to venerate the authority of the sultân.
His real name was Achmed. He was a native of
Bosnia, and spoke the Sclavonian language better
than any other. At an early period of his life, he
sold himself to a slave-merchant in Constantinople,
and being purchased by Ali Bey in Egypt, rose from
* Joshua xiii. 3. 1 Sam. vi. 17. Josephus, Antiq., lib. vi.
cap. 1.
† Wolney, vol. ii. p. 327.
THE HOLY LAND. 19
the humble situation of a Mameluke slave to be
governor of Cairo. In this situation, according to
his own account given to Dr. Clarke, he distinguished
himself by the most rigorous execution of justice;
realizing the stories related of Oriental caliphs, by
mingling in disguise with the inhabitants of the city,
and thus making himself master of all that was said
concerning himself, or transacted by his officers. So
far back as 1784, when M. Volney visited the Holy
Land, he was pasha of Seide (Sidon) and Acre.” At
that time, his cavalry amounted to 900 Bosnian and
Arnaut horsemen ; by sea, he had a frigate, two .
galiots, and a xebeck; and his revenue amounted to
400,000l. At the time of Dr. Clarke's arrival, he
was upwards of sixty years of age, and vain of the
vigour which he still retained. Of forty-three pashas
of three tails then living in the Turkish empire, he
was, by his own account, the senior. “We found
him,” says Dr. Clarke, “ seated on a mat, in a little
chamber destitute of the meanest article of furniture,
excepting a coarse, porous, earthenware vessel for
cooling the water he occasionally drank. He was
surrounded by persons maimed and disfigured,” some
without a nose, others without an arm, with one ear
only, or one eye ; marked men, as he termed them —
persons bearing signs of their having been instructed to
serve their master with fidelity. “He scarcely looked
up to notice our entrance, but continued his employ-
ment of drawing upon the floor, for one of his en-
gineers, a plan of some works he was then construct-
* Dr. Clarke says: “ He has been improperly considered as
pasha of Acre: his real pashalic was that of Seide, but, at the time
of our arrival, he was also lord of Damascus, Berytus, Tyre, and
Sidon.” Hurckhardt, however, represents the pashalic of Seide to
be the same as that of Akka
20 PALESTINE ; OR,
ing. His form was athletic, and his long white beard
entirely covered his breast. His habit was that of a
common Arab, plain, but clean, consisting of a white
camlet over a cotton cassock. His turban was also
white. Neither cushion nor carpet decorated the
naked boards of his divan. In his girdle he wore a
poniard set with diamonds ; but this he apologised for
exhibiting, saying it was his badge of office as gover-
nor of Acre, and therefore could not be laid aside.
Having ended his orders to the engineer, we were
directed to sit upon the end of the divan ; and Signor
Bertocino, his dragoman, kneeling by his side, he pre-
pared to hear the cause of our visit.” "
The port of Acre is bad, but Dr. Clarke represents
it as better than any other along the coast. That of
Seide is very insecure, and the harbour of Jaffa worse
than any of the rest. All the rice, which is the staple
food of the people, enters the country by Acre ; the
lord of that city, therefore, has it in his power to
cause a famine to be felt over all Syria. This con-
sideration led the French to direct all their efforts
towards the possession of Acre ; the key of a public
granary being the mightiest engine of military opera-
tion. “Hence,” observes Dr. Clarke, “we find Acre
to have been the last place in the Holy Land from
which the Christians were expelled ; and this it was
that gave to an old man, pent up in a small tower
by the sea-side, the extraordinary empire he pos-
sessed.”
Djezzar was the Herod of his day. At one period,
having reason to suspect the fidelity of his wives, he
put seven of them to death with his own hands. No
person in Acre knew the number of his women, but
* Travels in various Countries, part ii., § i, chap. 3.
THE HOLY LAND. 21
from the circumstance of a certain number of covers
being daily placed in a kind of wheel, or turning
cylinder, so contrived as to convey dishes to the in-
terior, without any possibility of observing the person
who received them. If any of them died, the event
was kept as secret as when he massacred them with
his own hands. In his public works he aimed at
magnificence. He built the mosque, the bazar, and
an elegant public fountain at Acre, using the exten-
sive remains of Cesarea as a quarry. In all these
works he was himself both the engineer and the archi-
tect: he formed the plans, drew the designs, and super-
intended the execution. He was his own minister,
chancellor, treasurer, and secretary; often his own
cook and gardener; and not unfrequently both judge
and executioner in the same instant. Such is the
account given of this extraordinary man by Baron de
Tott, Volney, and Dr. Clarke. Yet, with the short-
sighted and narrow-minded policy of an Oriental
despot, he sacrificed to his avarice the permanent
prosperity of the districts which he governed. During
the latter years of his administration, more especially,
towns that had once been flourishing, were reduced by
his oppression to a few cottages, and luxuriant plains
were abandoned to the wandering Arabs. His suc-
cessor is described by Dr. Richardson as a man of
milder, if not more enlightened character. He met
him at Tiberias in 1817, to which place his highness
had come for the benefit of the hot spring : he was
a venerable-looking old man, with a long flowing
white beard, and his manner was kind and un-
affected. “ Unlike his butchering predecessor,” says
Dr. R., “ this respectable viceroy bears the charac-
ter of a humane and good man, and nothing could
22 PALESTINE ; or,
exceed the respect which was shewn him by his at-
tendants.”
Acre, more properly Akka, -i- the ancient Ptolemais
(Acts, xxi. 7), is situated at the north angle of the
bay to which it gives its name, and which extends in
a semicircle of three leagues as far as the point of
Carmel. During the Crusades, it sustained several
sieges. After the expulsion of the knights of St.
John of Jerusalem, it fell rapidly into decay, and was
almost deserted,: till Djezzar Pasha, by repairing the
town and harbour, made it one of the first towns on
the coast. In modern times it has been rendered
celebrated for the successful stand it made, with the
aid of the British under Sir Sidney Smith, against the
French troops commanded by General Bonaparte, who
was obliged to raise the siege, after failing in his
twelfth assault. It is twenty-seven miles south of
Tyre, twenty-three N.N.W. of Jerusalem. Its pre-
sent population is estimated at 20,000. Few traces
remain of its former splendour. The external view of
Acre, says Dr. Clarke, like that of any other town on
the Levant, is the only prospect of it worth behold-
ing. The interior presents, as in the generality of
Turkish cities, narrow, dirty lanes, with wretched
shops, and as wretched inhabitants. Sandys noticed
“ the ruins of a palace, which yet doth acknowledge
King Richard for the founder, confirmed likewise by
the passant lion.” Dr. Clarke describes the remains
of a considerable edifice answering to this account,
* Travels along the Mediterranean, vol. ii. p. 431.
# The Accho of the Hebrew Scriptures. Judges, i. 31. The
AKH of Strabo. -
f Jm 1610, Sandys states that there were not above 200 or 300
inhabitants.
THE HOLY LAND. 23
which were conspicuous among the buildings on the
left of the mosque towards the north side of the city.
Some pointed arches, and part of the cornice, were
all that remained : the latter was ornamented with
enormous stone busts, exhibiting a series of hideous,
distorted countenances—a representation, perhaps, of
the heads of Saracens. The Gothic architecture, he
supposes, led to the idea of its having been “King
Richard’s palace ;” but, at the period referred to by
the tradition, the English were hardly capable of
erecting buildings of that character, and its origin
may be assigned with more probability to the Genoese
who assisted Baldwin at the capture of Acre, A.D.
1104; the lion being a symbol of Genoa. The ruins
in question are probably those of the cathedral church
of St. Andrew, described both by Doubdan, a French
traveller, who visited Acre in 1652, and by Maundrell,
as the most conspicuous object, standing on an emi-
nence not far from the sea-shore. Maundrell particu-
larises other ruins referrible to the same period ; the
church of St. John, the tutelar saint of the city in the
time of the knights templars, who changed its name
from Ptolemais to St. John d’Acre ; the convent of
the knights hospitallers ; the palace of the grand
master of that order, of which a large staircase was
still standing ; * and “many other ruins of churches,
palaces, monasteries, forts, &c., extending for more
than half a mile in length ; in all which you may
* This, Pococke states to have been “repaired and inhabited
by the great Feckerdine, prince of the Druses.”—“At the end of
this building,” he adds, “are the remains of what seem to have
been a very grand saloon, and a smaller room, of the same archi-
tecture, at the end of that. To the South there was a noble,
well-built chapel, the walls of which are (A. D. 1738) almost
Gl) (ite."
24 PALESTINE ; OR,
discern marks of so much strength, as if every
building in the city had been contrived for war and
defence.” “The carcass,” says Sandys, “shews that
the body hath been strong, double immured, fortified
with bulwalks and towers, to each wall a ditch lined
with stone, and under those, divers secret posterns.
You would think by the ruins, that the city rather con-
sisted wholly of divers conjoining castles, than any way
mixed with private dwellings, which witness a notable
defence and an unequal assault, or that the rage of the
conquerors extended beyond conquest ; the huge walls
and arches turned topsy-turvy, and lying like rocks
upon the foundation.” The strength of the city arose
in part from its advantageous situation. On the south
and west sides it was washed by the sea; it had a
small bay to the east, which Pococke describes as now
almost filled up ; and he is of opinion, that the river
Belus was brought through the fosse which ran along
the ramparts on the north, thus making the city an
island.” At the period of Dr. Clarke's visit, the
ruins, with the exception of the cathedral, the arsenal,
the college of the knights, and the palace of the grand
master, were so intermingled with modern buildings,
and in such a state of utter subversion, that it was
difficult, he says, to afford any satisfactory description
of them ; and Mr. Buckingham, who was at Acre in
1816, affirms that “the Christian ruins are altogether
* “ I have great reason to think that the river Belus was
brought along through the fossée, because it is mentioned in the
account of the siege, that a certain body of men attacked the city,
from the bridge over the Belus to the bishop's palace. I examined
the ground, and discovered what 1 supposed to be the 1emains of
the channel, and actually saw the ruins of a small bridge over it,
near the town, and of a larger farther on.”—Travels in the East,
book i chap. 13.
THE HO I, Y LAN ID. 25
gone;” and “even the three gothic arches called by
the English sailors king Richard's palace, have been
razed to the ground.” Shafts of red and grey granite,
and marble pillars, were to be seen throughout the
town ; some used as thresholds to doorways, others as
supporters to piazzas, besides several slabs of fine
marble. “Many superb remains were observed by
us,” says Dr. Clarke, “in the pasha's palace, in the
khan, the mosque, the public bath, the fountains, and
other works of the town, consisting of fragments of
antique marble, the shafts and capitals of granite and
marble pillars, masses of the verd antique breccia, of
ancient serpentine, and of the syenite and trap of
Egypt. In the garden of Djezzar's palace, leading
to his summer apartment, we saw some pillars of
yellow variegated marble, of extraordinary beauty :
but these, he informed us, he had procured from the
ruins of Cesarea, upon the coast between Acre and
Jaffa, together with almost all the marble used in the
decoration of his very sumptuous mosque. A beautiful
fountain of white marble, close to the entrance of his
palace, has also been constructed with materials from
those ruins.”—“ The bath is the finest and best built
of any that we saw in the Turkish empire. Every
kind of antique marble, together with large pillars of
Egyptian granite, might be observed among the ma-
terials employed in building it.”
The country about Acre abounds in cattle, corn,
olives, and linseed. A great quantity of cotton was,
in the time of Djezzar Pasha, exported from the place.
In the light sandy soil, containing a mixture of black
vegetable earth, which lies near the town, Dr. Clarke
observed plantations of water-melons, pumpkins, and
a little corn. Half a mile east of the city, is a small
hill, improved by art, about half a mile in length, and
PART I. C
26 PALESTINE ; or,
a quarter of a mile broad, and very steep on every
side, except to the south-west, which was probably the
camp of ancient besiegers. To the north of this is an
irregular rising ground, where there are great ruins
of vaults, some of which appear to have been reser-
voirs. To the north-west of this place, and about a
mile to the north of the city, is another rising ground,
surmounted with the ruins of a very strong square
tower, a mosque, and other great buildings, called
Abouotidy, from a sheik who was buried there.*
Half way between this place and Acre is a fine well.
About five miles to the north-east of the town, a
narrow valley watered by a rivulet, runs for some
way between high hills: at the end of it rises a hill,
supposed by Pococke to be Mount Feret, bearing a
fortress anciently belonging, probably, to the knights
of St. John ; and at the bottom of the hill is a large
building of hewn stone. “This place,” he says, “ is
called by Europeans the enchanted castle.” On leaving
Acre, and turning towards the south-east, the tra-
veller crosses the river Belus, near its mouth, where
the stream is shallow enough to be easily forded on
horseback. This river rises out of a lake, computed
to be about six miles distant, towards the south-east,
called by the ancients Palus Cendovia. Of the sand
of this river, according to Pliny, glass was first made ;
and vessels from Italy continued to remove it for the
glass-houses of Venice and Genoa, so late as the
middle of the seventeenth century. Farther south-
ward, towards the south-east corner of the bay of
Acre, the traveller fords “ that ancient river, the
river Kishon,” (Judges v. 21.) a larger stream than
the Belus, supposed to have its source in the hills to
* This account is taken from Pococke, book i. chap. 13.
THE HOLY LANI). 27
the east of the plain of Esdraelon, which it intersects.
Being enlarged by several small streams, it passes
between Mount Carmel and the hills to the north,
and then falls into the sea at this point. “In the
condition we saw it,” says Maundrell, “ its waters
were low and inconsiderable ; but in passing along the
side of the plain, we discerned the tracks of many
lesser torrents, falling down into it from the moun-
tains, which must needs make it swell exceedingly
upon sudden rains, as doubtless it actually did at the
destruction of Sisera’s host.” Mount Carmel extends
from the sea eastward as far as the plain of Esdraelon,
and southward to Cesarea. Turning the foot of this
mountain towards the west, you arrive at Caypha,
which is on the south side of the bay, opposite to
Acre ; supposed to have derived its name (Kepha)
from the rocky ground it stands upon, out of which
many sepulchres are cut, mostly like single coffins, but
not separated from the rock, and probably of Jewish
origin. “Caypha,” says Dr. Pococke, “is said also
to have had the name of Porphureon, from the purple
fish found on this coast, with which they made the
ancient Tyrian dye. It was a bishopric, and there is
a well-built old church entire, which might have been
the cathedral. There are also ruins of a large build-
ing, that seems to have been the castle; and they
have built two forts, as a defence against the corsairs;
for this, in reality, is the port of Acre, where ships lie
at anchor, it being a bad shore on the other side,
where they cannot remain with safety, by reason of
the shallowness of the water.”
There are two roads from Acre to the holy city;
that by Cesarea and Joppa, which runs for some way
along the coast, by which St. Paul came to Jerusalem,
on his return from Macedonia (Acts xxi.); and that
28 PALESTINE; OR,
by Nazareth, taken by Dr. Clarke. We shall pursue
the first route as far as Jaffa, on the authority chiefly
of Dr. Pococke.
Opposite to Caypha, the learned traveller ascended
Mount Carmel, to the Latin convent of the Car-
melites, inhabited at that time by only two or three
monks.” Great part of the present convent, and
particularly the church and refectory, are grots cut
out of the rock, this place not long having been made
a monastery, at the period of Dr. Pococke's visit.
Towards the foot of the hill is a grot, one of the
finest, he says, that he ever saw. “It is like a grand
saloon, and is about forty feet long, twenty wide, and
fifteen high. It is cut out of the rock, and is now
converted into a mosque. Over this convent are the
ruins of the old monastery, where probably the order of
Carmelites was instituted : it might at first be inhabited
by the Greek caloyers of the order of St. Elias, who
had possession of these parts before the Latins were
established here. Near it is a chapel in a grot, where,
they say, Elias sometimes lived, which is resorted to
with great devotion even by the Turks, as well as by
the Christians and Jews, on the festival of that saint.
We staid all night in the Latin convent, from which
* When Captains Irby and Mangles visited it in 1817, they
found the building entirely deserted, and the only friar belonging
. to the convent residing at Hepha (Caypha). It was pillaged and
destroyed by the Arabs after the retreat of the French army
from the siege of Acre; the latter having used it as an hospital
for their sick and wounded, while their operations were carrying
on ; and in the places where the poor fellows had lain, the num-
bers still remain by which they were arranged. Near the con-
vent they noticed some prostrate columns, and in front of a cave,
shewn as the place where Elijah had his altar, the remains of a
handsome church in the Gothic style, ascribed, like every thing of
the kiud in the Holy Land, to the empress Helena.
THE HOLY LAN D. 29
there is a very fine prospect. The next morning we
descended the hill, and turning to the west side of it,
went a little way to the south, and then to the east,
into a narrow valley, about a mile long, between the
mountains, and came to the grotto where, they say,
Elias usually lived. Near it is his fountain, cut out
of the rock. Here are the ruins of a convent which,
they say, was built by Brocardus, the second general of
the Latin Carmelites, who wrote an account of the
Holy Land. Over this, on the top of the hill, is a
spot of ground which they call Elias's garden, because
sº
they find many stones there, resembling pears, olives,
and, as they imagine, water-melons: the last, when
broken, appear to be hollow, and the inside beautifully
crystallized.”
In this legend we have a specimen of the absurd
fictions coined by illiterate monks, which are the only
species of information the traveller is able to obtain
from the guardians of the supposititious sacred places
—fictions not having the slightest pretension to the
character of local traditions, and often in palpable
contradiction to the sacred history. Yet, it would
once have been deemed impious to call in question
their truth, and they have been gravely repeated by
the most learned Protestant travellers, with marvel-
lous credulity. It is observable that the scene of
every remarkable incident in the Scripture narrative,
has been laid, by the monks, in grottos or caves;
in defiance, frequently not of credibility merely, but
of possibility, as well as in opposition to the known
habits of the Jews. The real origin of these caves is
an interesting question ; but the disposition to attach
a sanctity to such excavations, whether natural or
* Travels in the East, book is chap. 14.
C 2
30 PALESTINE ; OR,
artificial, seems common to all nations; it discovered
itself in the ancient Egyptian and the classic Greek,
the Christian monk and the idolatrous Hindoo, and
has been displayed even by the North American
Indian. They have been converted into tombs and
temples, have been the scene of heathen mysteries
and Romish mummeries, the hiding-place of prophets
and saints,” the cell of the hermit, and the d ºn of the
robber. Thus motives of the most various kinds have
led to their formation, and to their being tenanted.
Mount Carmel is described as a flattened cone,
about 2,000 feet (some say 1,500) in height, and very
rocky. Captain Mangles describes it as now quite
barren, though at the north-eastern foot of it there
are some pretty olive-grounds. But the name pro-
perly denotes a range of hills, extending six or eight
miles from north to south, having on the east a fine
plain, watered by the Kishon, and on the west a
narrower plain descending to the sea. The summits
abound with oak and other trees; and among bram-
bles, wild vines and olive-trees may still be found,
indicating its ancient state of cultivation, to which an
allusion occurs, Amos i. 2; where it is denounced as
a punishment upon Israel, that “the top of Carmel
shall wither.” There was another Carmel, apparently
a pastoral district, situated within the tribe of Judah,
and not far from Maon...f. It is not always easy to
determine to which of these the reference is made,
or whether, in all cases, the word is used as the
specific name of a place. To this Mount Carmel,
however, on the top of which Elijah sacrificed, the
prophet Amos obviously refers, when, speaking in the
* 1 Kings xviii. 4. Heb. xi. 38.
Compare Joshua xv. 55. 1 Sam. xxv. 2. 2 Sam, iii. 3.
THE HOLY LAND. 31
name of God, he says: “If they hide themselves in
the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out
thence.” But, as the height of the mountain will
not altogether account for the expression, “hide
themselves,” it is far from improbable, that there
is an allusion to the caves with which it abounded,
and which seem to have been places of refuge in the
time of Elijah. The “excellency of Carmel,”+ if
this district be alluded to, may denote either the vine-
yards and olive grounds which once clothed the sides
of the mountain, or the rich pastures which the range
of hills so designated seem to have afforded, and which
rendered it “the habitation of shepherds.”:
Pursuing the line of the coast, the traveller comes
to a castle on a small rocky promontory, extending
about a quarter of a mile into the sea, and nearly half
a quarter of a mile broad, having a small bay to the
south. The place is said by Pococke to bear among
the Franks the name of Castel Pellegrino, but to be
called by the natives Athlete. It was formerly called
Petra incisa. “ There seems,” he adds, “ to have
been a town to the east and south-east of the pro-
montory, as appears from the walls, which are almost
entire, and are built of large hewn stone rusticated.”
The castle he describes as very magnificent, and “so
finely built, that it may be reckoned as one of the
things that are best worth seeing in these parts.”—
“It is encompassed with two walls, fifteen feet thick,
the inner wall on the east side cannot be less than
forty feet high, and within it there appear to have
been some very grand apartments. The offices of the
fortress seem to have been at the west end, where I
saw an oven eighteen feet in diameter. In the castle
* Amos iNº. 3. f Isaiah xxix., 17 ; xxxiii. 9; xxxv. 2.
f Aurios. l. 2.
32 PALESTINE ; OR,
there are remains of a fine lofty church ºf ten sides,
built in a light gothic taste: three chapels are built
to the three eastern sides, each of which consists of five
sides, excepting the opening to the church ; in these, it
is probable, the three chief altars stood. The castle
seems to have been built by the Greek emperors, as a
place for arms, at the time when they were apprehen-
sive of the invasions of the Saracens.””
When Pococke visited the spot, it does not appear
to have been inhabited ; but Captains Irby and Man-
gles found here a modern village situated on the pro-
montory, and apparently constructed from the ruins
of the ancient city. “It is,” they say, “ of small
extent, and would appear, from its elevated situation
and the old walls which surround it, to have been a
citadel, as there are the ruins of two other walls with-
out it. The outer one, which we may suppose to
have included the remainder of the ancient town,
incloses a considerable space of ground now unin-
habited.” Referring to the ruins of the church, they
state that its form was originally a double hexagon ;
the half still standing has six sides. On the exterior,
below the cornice, are human heads and heads of
animals, (those of the lion, the ram, and the sheep,
are distinguishable,) in alto-relievo. The exterior
walls have a double line of arches in the gothic style,
the architecture light and elegant. “From the com-
modiousness of the bay, the extent of the quarries in
the neighbourhood, and the fine rich plains near it,
though now but partially cultivated, it would seem,”
they add, “that this place was formerly of much im-
portance, and that the neighbourhood, though now
very thinly inhabited, was once populous.”
* Travels in the East, book i chap. 15.
THE HOLY LAND. 33
About ten miles to the south of Castel Pellegrino,
is the small village of Tortura, supposed to be the
ancient Dora, with a port to the south for large boats,
which are sometimes forced to put in by stress of
weather. To the north of the port is a small pro-
montory, on which there is a ruined castle ; and here,
probably, was situated the old town. Captain Mangles
says, “There are extensive ruins here, but they pos-
sess nothing of interest.”
Between three and four miles south of Tortura,
the traveller crosses a small river called Coradgé,
supposed by Pococke to be the Kerseos of Ptolemy;
and, about three miles north of Cesarea, he passes the
river Zirka, the flumen crocodilon of Pliny, and the
river Cesarea of Palestine of Reland. Dr. Pococke
was credibly informed on the spot, that there are
crocodiles in this river, agreeably to Reland's state-
ment, and that some of these had been brought to
Acre. “ They say the crocodiles are small, not ex-
ceeding five or six feet in length, but that they have
taken some young cattle that were standing in the
river ; so that it is probable, a colony from some city
in Egypt that worshipped the crocodile, came and
settled here, and brought their deities along with
them.”
Cesarea is still called by the Arabs Kissary, but not
a single inhabitant remains where once stood the
proud city of Herod. “Perhaps there has not been,”
remarks Dr. Clarke, “ in the history of the world,
an example of any city that in so short a space of
time rose to such an extraordinary height of splendour
as did this of Cesarea, or that exhibits a more awful
Contrast to its former magnificence, by the present
desolate appearance of its ruins. Its theatres, once
resounding with the shouts of multitudes, echo no
34 PALESTINE ; OR,
other sound than the nightly cries of animals roaming
for their prey. Of its gorgeous palaces and temples,
enriched with the choicest works of art, and decorated
with the most precious marbles, scarcely a trace can
be discerned. Within the space of ten years after
laying the foundation, from an obscure fortress,
(called the Tower of Strato, as it is said, from the
Greek who founded it,) it became the most celebrated
and flourishing city of all Syria.” It was named
Cesarea by Herod, in honour of Augustus, and
dedicated by him to that Emperor, in the twenty-
eighth year of his reign ; and it was called Cesarea of
Palestine, to distinguish it from Cesarea Philippi, or
Cesarea Paneadis. It was afterwards called Colonia
Flavia, in consequence of privileges granted to it by
Vespasian, who made it a Roman colony.” It is
reckoned to be thirty-six miles from Acre, thirty
from Jaffa, and sixty-two from Jerusalem.
Though conveniently situated for trade, Cesarea
had originally a very bad harbour; but Herod, at a
great expense, made it one of the most convenient
havens on the coast. A mole is mentioned, which
was carried out 200 feet into the sea. Dr. Pococke
observed flat rocks about the port, on which some
works were probably raised to protect the vessels from
the westerly winds. The supposed sites of the ancient
edifices are mere mounds of undefinable form, afford-
ing no basis for topographical conjectures. The
aqueducts, however, still remain, as monuments of
its ancient magnificence ; they run north and south.
The lower aqueduct, which is to the east of the other,
* On a medal of Marcus Aurelius it is called COL. PRIMA
FL. AUG, CAESAREA.
t Joeephus, Antiq. lib. xv. cap. 13., and De Bello Jud. lab, i.
cap. 21.
THE HOLY LAND. 35
is carried along on a wall without arches, and of no
great height; it is thirteen feet thick, and seems to
have conveyed a great body of water in an arched
channel, which is five feet six inches wide. The other
aqueduct, forty yards nearer the sea, is built on
arches; the side next the sea is a rusticated work,
but the east side is plastered with a strong cement.
Both aqueducts are now almost buried in the sand.
The walls of the town are said to have been built in
the time of the Crusades, by Louis IX. of France ;
they are of small hewn stone, and about a mile in
circumference, defended by a broad fosse. The
ancient city extended farther to the north. On a
point of land stretching from the south-west corner
of the walls, there are the ruins of a very strong
castle, to which Pococke is disposed to assign the
same date as to the walls, and which he describes as
full of fragments of very fine marble pillars, some of
granite, and a beautiful grey alabaster. Captain
Mangles says, that it has apparently been constructed
on the ruins of a Roman temple, as immense pillars of
granite form the foundation. These, no doubt, are
some of the materials used by Djezzar Pasha in the
construction and decoration of his palace and the
public buildings at Acre. “Within the walls,” con-
tinues Pococke, “ there are great ruins of arched
houses, which probably were built during the time of
the Holy War; but the ground is so much overgrown
with briers and thistles, that it was impossible to go
to any part where there was not a beaten path. It
is a remarkable resort for wild boars, which abound
also in the neighbouring plain ; and when the Ma-
hommedans kill them, they leave their carcases on the
spot, as it would defile them only to touch them.
There is no other remarkable ruin within the walls,
36 . PALESTINE ; OR,
except a large church, which probably was the cathe-
dral of the archbishop, who had twenty bishops under
him : it is a strong building, and appears to have
been destroyed by war, as well as the castle. By what
I could conjecture, it seems to have been built in
the style of the Syrian churches, with three naves,
which ended to the east in semicircles, where they
had their principal altars. The rising ground to the
south, where I suppose, the amphitheatre was built,
seems to have been the site of a castle in ,ater ages,
and to have had a square tower at each corner, and
a fossée on three sides of it.” There is reason to
believe that the Crusaders have had as large a share
in demolishing the monuments of Jewish and Roman
art in the Holy Land, as the Moslems. Dr. Clarke
did not visit Cesarea ; but from off the coast, the
remains of the city still had the appearance of being
numerous and extensive, notwithstanding they had
been so long resorted to as a quarry by the Pasha
of Acre.
Cesarea is rendered interesting to the Christian as
the city where St. Paul so long resided as a prisoner,
and where he uttered that eloquent oration before
King Agrippa and Felix, which is preserved in the
twenty-sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.
Here also Cornelius the centurion resided, and Philip
the evangelist; and repeated mention is made of it
in the Sacred History, as the port from which the
apostles embarked for Greece, or at which they
landed.*
The road between Cesarea and Jaffa is thus de-
cribed by Mr. Buckingham, who took this route.
to Jerusalem in 1816. For an hour and a half the
* See Acts, ix. 30; x. 24; xviii. 22; xxi. 8, 10.
THE HOLY L.A. N. D. 37
road continued along the shore, chiefly on a sandy
beach, with here and there beds of rock towards
the sea; it then turned up from the sea, and lay
over desert “ground for about an hour ; after which
it returned to the beach. At three hours' distance
from Cesarea, Mr. B. crossed a low point of land,
called Min (Port) Tabos Aboora, where there is a
small bay, obstructed by broken masses of rock. It
was said to be a scala, to which fruit is brought from
the neighbouring country behind Jaffa and to the
north of it, and here shipped in boats for the more
northern parts of Syria. At half an hour's distance
from this point the road again leaves the sea, and
for about an hour crosses a desert, covered with sand,
long wild grass, and a few bushes. “ At one,”
continues this traveller, “we came in sight of a culti-
vated plain, with a long valley running eastward,
and shewing us on the hill the small village of El-
sheikh Moosa, having a large building in its centre :
we crossed this valley, and, ascending a gentle hill,
came, at half-past one, in sight of a more extensive
and beautiful plain, covered with trees, and having
the first carpet of verdure that we had yet seen. On
the left, we entered the small village of El Mukhalid.
This village resembled an Egyptian one, in the form
and construction of its huts, more than any we had
yet passed; and was also the poorest we had seen,
consisting of not more than ten or fifteen dwellings.
I was surprised that so fine a situation as it com-
mands should not have been occupied by some larger
settlement, as the plains below and at the foot of
it are more extensive, more beautiful, and, to all
appearance, quite as fertile as those of Acre, of
Zabulon, or of Carmel. On going round the village,
we found, at its south-west angle, a considerable
PART I. ID
38 PALESTINE ; OR,
portion of a large building remaining, having nearly
fifty feet of its side-wall, and one perfect end-wall
still standing. It was built of well-hewn stones,
regularly placed and strongly cemented, and shewed
equally good masonry with that of the fort at Cesarea,
the style of which it resembled. In one part of the
side were seen narrow windows and loop-holes; but
whether it was solely a military post, a private dwell-
ing provided for its own defence, or the only remain-
ing building of some ancient town, we could not decide.
The presence of broken pottery, and particularly of
the ribbed kind, scattered about in great quantities
around the village, and at some distance from it,
inclined me to the latter opinion. The situation
corresponds very nearly to that of Antipatris, a city
built by Herod, and so called after his father
Antipater. This city is described as being seated
at the descent of a mountainous country, on the
border of a plain named Saronas, terminated by the
sea : which agrees exactly with the local features of
El Mukhalid.” “
Mr. Buckingham's conjecture, however, is inad-
missible. Antipatris, the ancient Caphar Saba, (or,
as Josephus writes it, Chabarzaba,) was seventeen
miles from Jaffa, ten from Lydda, and twenty-six
from Cesarea. El Mukhalid is only between seven-
teen and eighteen miles from Cesarea; and it is im-
possible to trace any identity between its present
name and that of Caphar Saba. Springs and rivulets,
also, are stated to have distinguished the locality of
Antipatris. The situation, in point of relative dis-
tance, corresponds more nearly to that of Apollonia, a
* Travels in Palestine, by J. S. Buckingham, 8vo, vol. i.
pp. 217, 218.
sº THE HOLY LAND, 39
city of Palestine, near the sea, at almost an equal
distance between Jaffa and Cesarea, referred to by
Josephus, Pliny, and Ptolemy. The site of Anti-
patris remains, therefore, to be determined. It was
to that city that St. Paul was brought by night, under
a strong escort from Jerusalem, when he was sent a
prisoner to Felix. Acts xxiii. 31.
Ileaving El Mukhalid, the travellers had the plain
below it on their left, and soon entered again on
a desert track of sand, mixed with wild grass and
a few bushes. They then came to a “narrow, fertile
pass,” having caves and grottos on each side ; at
the end of which they ascended to an elevated plain
where husbandmen were sowing, and some thousands
of starlings covered the ground, as the wild pigeons do
in Egypt, laying a heavy contribution on the grain.
Continuing along this plain for above an hour, they
arrived at the village of Heram, where they halted.
This village is seated on a high promontory, over-
looking the sea ; though containing not more than
forty or fifty dwellings, it possesses a mosque, with a
minaret, the approach to which is over a small green
plat, with a worn foot-path winding up it, like some
of our church-paths. Just before entering the village,
Mr. Buckingham again noticed caves and marks of
excavated dwellings. On leaving their quarters in
the morning, they descended to the beach, and con-
tinued along the coast, under brown cliffs and hills,
till they came, in about two hours, Mr. Buckingham
says, to the Nahr-el-Arsouf, which, being shallow,
they easily forded. Here, in the days of the Crusades,
stood a castle, which is no longer to be seen. In half
an hour they came to a little domed fountain, on the
brow of the cliff; they observed that the beach beneath
40 PALESTINE ; OR,
was covered with small shells, to the depth of several
feet. Soon after, they approached Jaffa.
Captains Irby and Mangles, in passing from Egypt
to Syria, took the same route along the coast of
Palestine. After leaving Jaffa, they shortly crossed
the Nahr el Petras; of which Mr. Buckingham takes
no notice unless he mistook it for the Arsouf, which
would account for his not perceiving any ruins there.
After crossing Nahr el Petras, the travellers passed
through a wild but pretty country, and [then] crossed
the Nahr el Arsouf, leaving the village of that name
(the ancient Apollonias) on their left. The following
morning they proceeded very early, and crossing the
Nanr el Kasab, arrived at Cesarea.” As they men-
tion neither El Mukhalid nor Heram, their account
throws little light on the account given by Mr.
Buckingham. /
Jaffa, or Yaffa, the ancient Joppa, is one of the
most ancient sea-ports in the world; its traditional
history stretches far back into the twilight of time,
and Pliny assigns it a date anterior to the deluge.
In his time, they pretended to exhibit the marks of
the chain with which Andromeda was fastened to a
rock ; and the supposed skeleton of the sea-monster
to which she was exposed was long preserved at
Rome. Here, too, if tradition may be credited, Noah
built his ark | Hither, however, the most authentic
of all records informs us, King Solomon ordered the
materials of the Temple to be brought by sea from
Mount Libanus ; here the prophet Jonah embarked
for Tarshish, 862 years before the Christian era; and
* Travels in Egypt, &c. by the Honourable C. L. Irby and
J. Mangles, 8vo. p. 199.
THE HOLY LAND. 41
here, in apostolic times, St. Peter restored Tabitha
to life. In the middle of the thirteenth century, it
was fortified by Louis IX. ; but, in 1647, Monconys, a
French traveller, found nothing at Jaffa, but a castle
and some caverns. Lastly, in 1799, the modern town
was taken by Bonaparte, and signalised by that
massacre of Turkish prisoners, which has afforded
so much matter for discussion, as one of the darkest
charges laid against the character of Napoleon.” It
is situated in lat. 32° 2' N. and long. 34°53' E., and
is forty miles W. of Jerusalem. Its situation, as the
nearest port to the Holy City, has been the chief
cause of its importance. As a station for vessels,
according to Dr. Clarke, its harbour is one of the
worst in the Mediterranean. Ships generally anchor
about a mile from the town, to avoid the shoals and
rocks of the place. The badness of the harbour is
mentioned, indeed, by Josephus. He speaks of both
Joppa and Dora, as “ lesser maritime cities, not fit
jor havens, on account of the impetuous south-winds
that beat upon them ; which rolling the sands that
come from the sea against the shores do not admit
of ships lying in their station : but the merchants are
generally there forced to ride at their anchors on the
sea itself.” And he proceeds to describe the works by
which Herod endeavoured to rectify a similar incon-
venience of situation at Cesarea. The road is pro-
tected by a castle built on a rock, and there are some
* There is no doubt that the massacre took place; the chly
question relates to the number, and the probable motive or
alleged justification. Bonaparte's statement was, that they were
prisoners who had been dismissed on parole, and who afterwards
joined the garrison at Jaffa, and that 500 only were put to
death.
f Josephus, Antiq, book xv. chap. 9.
42 . PALESTINE, OR,
storehouses and magazines on the sea-side. The
coast is low, but little elevated above the level of
the sea ; but the town occupies an eminence, in the
form of a sugar-loaf, with a citadel on the summit.
The bottom of the hill is surrounded with a wall
twelve or fourteen feet high, and two or three feet
thick. The environs are occupied by extensive gar-
dens, the light sandy soil being peculiarly favourable
for the production of different kinds of fruit. These
gardens are fenced with hedges of the prickly pear,
and are plentifully stocked with pomegranate, orange,
lemon, and fig-trees, and water-melons. The latter
are celebrated all over the Levant for their delicious
flavour. Those which are produced at Jaffa and at
Damietta in Egypt, seem to owe their peculiar excel-
lence to the soil and climate of these two places; for,
when transplanted, though cultivated in the same man.
ner, they lose their exquisite flavour, and degenerate
into the common water-melon. The lemons and
oranges, also, grow here to a prodigious size. The
commerce of the town chiefly consists in the importa-
tion of grain, particularly of rice from Egypt, and the
export of cotton and soap. In Pococke's time, a great
trade in soap was carried on at Jaffa : it is made of
olive-oil and ashes. Egypt was chiefly supplied from
this port. There are no antiquities in Jaffa : the place
would seem to be too old to have any—to have outlived
all that once rendered it interesting. The inhabitants
are estimated at between four and five thousand souls,
of whom the greater part are Turks and Arabs; the
Christians are stated to be about six hundred, con-
sisting of Roman Catholics, Greeks, Maronites, and
Armenians. The Latins, Greeks, and Armenians,
have each a small convent for the reception of pil-
grims. Of these, the Greeks are represented as by
THE HOLY LAND. 43
far the most affable and agreeable to strangers; the
Armenians as the most triste and austere, at least in
appearance.
At Jaffa, the route from Egypt by the Desert of
Suez, falls into what may be considered as the
high road of pilgrimage to the Holy City. As this
route completes the line of coast, we shall, before
pursuing the journey to Jerusalem, trace the road
from El Arisch.
ROUTE FROM EL ARISCH TO JAFFA.
EL ARIscII* is held by the Pasha of Egypt; but
as it is the first town on the Syrian side of the Desert
of Suez, it may be considered as the natural frontier
of Palestine on that side. It is seated upon a slightly
elevated rock, in the midst of drifting sands; and its
substantial fortress, with the village hanging under
its eastern front, has an imposing appearance. The
rock is a shell-limestone, with a greater proportion
of both chalk and shells than any of the rocks in
Egypt. The castle was put into good condition by
the French, and furnished with octagonal towers for
artillery; it is defended by twelve pieces of cannon.
The district of El Arisch is computed to contain 2000
inhabitants. The water here is slightly brackish.
Cultivation commences almost immediately beyond,
but has to struggle with the sand, which is plentifully
sprinkled over the soil. The route lies, for about
twenty or twenty-two miles, over an undulating
surface, in which grass and sand dispute the supe-
riority, to Sheikh Juide, a ruined village, pleasantly
* Either the ancient Ostracine or Rhinocolura; probably the
latter, which was considered as the last Egyptian town, though on
the Syrian confines.
44 PALESTINE ; OR,
situated at the upper end of a narrow valley ; it is
said to have been burned by the French on their way
to Egypt, and has never been rebuilt. The tomb
of the venerable sheikh who has bequeathed his name
both to the ruins and the valley, is all that remains
standing. Over it Dr. Richardson saw, suspended
by the four corners, after the superstitious fashion of
the country, a black and white cloth, with a large
ostrich egg, and a few monumental charms hanging
above it ; close by is an extensive burying-ground;
a large field of barley was nearly ripe, while the
landscape all around was picturesque and cultivated,
but the crops seemed poor.” They improved in
appearance on approaching Rafah, (anciently called
Raphia,) about three hours from Sheikh Juide. T
Here a great battle was fought between Ptolemy the
Fourth, King of Egypt, and Antiochus the Great,
the monarch of Syria. On the top of the hill there
were still standing two columns of grey granite, beside
a small heap of rubbish. A little way down the hillis
a deep well, of tolerably good water, the sides of the
shaft of which are regularly built up, and covered
at the top to exclude the sun ; it is surrounded with
scattered columns of granite. Two hours farther brings
the traveller to Hanoonis, or Khanyounes (Jenysus),
situated on an eminence on the South side of the
valley; this is the last village which pays tribute
to the Pasha of Egypt. Dair, the next place, is
in the pashalic of Gaza. There is no perceptible
line of division between the two governments. At
* Richardson's Travels, vol. ii. p. 194.
+ Josephus and Polybius make Raphia the first city in Syria
m coming from Egypt. It was a bishooric of the Eastern
Church.
TIH F HOLY I, A N D. 45
Dair there is plenty of good water, raised by a water-
wheel, resembling the Persian wheels in Egypt and
Nubia ; and three beautiful marble columns, laid toge-
ther, form a trough for the cattle. The country
beyond continues to present the same kind of rural
scenery ; beautiful undulating fields, covered with
flocks and herds, and crops of wheat, barley, lentils,
and tobacco. The breed of black cattle is described as
not near so handsome, however, as that of Egypt.
A few miles beyond Dair, at the foot of a hill, the
traveller crosses the bed of a torrent, about thirty
yards wide, called El Wadi (or El Oa di) Gaza. The
fine alluvial plain is, apparently, in the rainy season
surrounded by the river.
A slight variation occurs in the route taken by the
(pseudo) Ali Bey.* Quitting the usual track, he
traversed some cultivated hills, to the south-east ; he
remarked, in his way, some fields completely burrowed,
as he was informed, by the rats, but, he conjectures,
by djerboas. He gives the distance seven hours from
El Arisch to Sheikh Zouail, and four hours thence
in a straight line to Khanyounes: which is described
as well situated, at a short distance from the sea, and
surrounded with walls and gardens ; the first inhabited
place on entering Syria from the south. From hence
to Gaza is a march of four hours, making the distance
from El Arisch about forty-eight miles.
After crossing El Wadi Gaza, the road ascends a
hill, from the summit of which the whitened tomb of
the Sheikh Ab Ali is seen crowning the lofty pro-
montory of the mountains of Hebron on the right,
and the town and minarets of Gaza occupy the
* Travels of Ali Bey, vol. ii. pp. 205, 206.
D 2
46 PA I, ESTINE ; OR,
summit of a mound in the plain on the left. A hedge
of Indian fig lines the road on each side, and a num-
ber of upright marble tomb-stones mark the spot
where it turns to the left, and winds, like a serpentine
walk through pleasure-gardens, to the gates of the
city. The gardens are enclosed with hedges of Indian
fig, and abound in tall spreading sycamore trees,
which give them a delightful appearance, although
but indifferently stocked. The town and the burying-
ground cover the top of the eminence, which is about
two miles in circumference at the base, and appears
to have been wholly enclosed within the ancient forti-
fications; according to the ancient mode of warfare,
it must have been a place of considerable strength.
For two months it baffled all the efforts of Alexander
the Great, who was repeatedly repulsed, and wounded
in the siege : which he afterwards revenged in a most
infamous manner on the person of the gallant de-
fender, Betis, whom, while yet alive, having ordered
his ankles to be bored, he dragged round the walls,
tied to his chariot-wheels, in the barbarous parade of
imitating the less savage treatment of the corpse of
Hector by Achilles.
There are no antiquities of any consequence at Gaza.
The streets are very narrow ; and the houses, most
of which have gardens, are generally without win-
dows. The country abounds with calcareous stone,
or coarse marble of a fine white colour, of which all
the principal edifices are built. There are a number
of mosques, and some fine tombs. The largest mosque
is an ancient Greek church, to which the Turks have
added several buildings, in vile taste, which do not
harmonize with the rest.” In several parts of the town
• Richardson's Travels, vol. ii. p. 108, 109.
THE HOLY LAND. 47
may be seen a few scattered columns of grey granite,
probably of Roman architecture ; and there are the
remains of a round edifice, assignable to the same
period. El Serai (the seraglio), the governor's man-
sion, is a large awkward-looking building, of Sara-
cenic architecture. El Muhkumut, or the tribunal,
the residence of the kadi, is also a large edifice. The
markets are well supplied; provisions cheap ; the
water, which is procured from wells, is both good
and clear; the bread indifferent, but the meat, fowls,
and vegetables, of excellent quality. Altogether there
is an air of comfort about the town and its inhabit-
ants, very striking to travellers coming from Egypt.
The inhabitants are stated by Dr. Richardson to be
between two and three thousand ; they consist of a
mixture of Turks and Arabs, “from all the Arabias,”
Egypt, and Syria,-Fellahs, Bedouins, &c., those of
each nation wearing their particular costume. The
town is governed by a Turkish aga. Its distance
from the sea is about three miles ; from Jaffa a day’s
journey and a half; and “ two long days’ journey
from Jerusalem.” "
The sheep of this district are exceedingly fine,
black-faced and white-faced ; many of them with a
brown-coloured fleece; the leaders of the flock bearing
the bell, as in this country. The peasantry plough
with two oxen : the plough is remarkably slight, with
only one handle ; the beam and yoke so very short,
that, without moving from his post, the ploughman
can goad the oxen with the long stick he carries in
one hand, while -he holds the plough with the other.
Descending from the height of Gaza into the plain,
* Travels of Ali Bey, vol. ii. pp. 206—208. Hichardsen's Travels,
vol. ii. pp. 197—199.
48 PALESTINE ; OR,
the traveller, for three-quarters of an hour, passes
through an olive-ground, the trees of which are old
and large, and judiciously planted ; “ not crowded
together in such impenetrable masses as in the Ionian
Isles, so as to prevent a free circulation of air and
infect the neighbourhood with a noisome damp, but
free and open, admitting of the cultivation and healthy
growth of vegetables at their roots.” On the edge
of this grove, Dr. Richardson met with a number of
storks, a bird held in high veneration by the Mus-
sulmans. A little beyond the small village of Bet
Hanoon, which lay to the right of the road, he
crossed the deep bed (then dry) of a winter torrent,
supposed to be the torrent Escol. The village Beeres-
nait was on the traveller’s right hand, and before him
Bedigga and Dia, from which he turned to the left,
to encamp close to the modern village of Barbara.
The next morning, while the caravan filed along the
beautiful and well-wooded valley to Ashdod and
Yabne, the party ascended the hill, and passing
through Barbara, turned off towards the sea for the
ruins of Askelon (pronounced Ascalāān), which lie
about an hour's distance from the road to Ashdod.*
It was the month of April. Olive-trees occupied the
• * Captains Irby and Mangles took the more direct route to
Ashdod. At four A.M. they left Gaza. The road for two hours
lay through beautiful groves of olive, and then entered on an
open country, partly cultivated. The travellers left some vil-
lages on either side, and passed the torrent Escol, then dry, over
a bridge of two high arches. About noon, they had on their left
Majudal, described as a large village with a mosque, situated in a
valley, surrounded with olive groves. At three P.M. they arrived
at Ashdod. The distance from Gaza to Ashdod, according to their
statement, would seem to be eleven hours, or about thirty-three
miles; but a deduction is probably to be made for halts, of which
no notice is taken in the narrative.
THE HOLY LAND. 49
sandy height on the one hand, and fine crops of
wheat and barley were seen on the other. Arab tents
were ranged along the edge of the hills, and Arab
sheikhs were busily employed among their flocks in
the plain. Crossing the sandy ridge, the road descends
into a well-cultivated plain, at the village called Naidé;
and then climbs an eminence, on which are the re-
mains of an edifice with granite columns, like that at
Rafia. From this point the ruined walls of Askelon
are seen to advantage. After crossing a small stream
in the intervening valley, the travellers arrived at
their base. Their present appearance is thus described
by the very intelligent traveller whose track we have
been pursuing.
“The position of Askelon is strong : the walls are
built on the top of a ridge of rock that winds round
the town in a semicircular direction, and terminates
at each end in the sea. The foundations remain all
the way round. The walls are of great thickness,
and, in some places, of considerable height, and
flanked with towers at different distances. Patches
of the wall preserve their original elevation ; but,
in general, it is ruined throughout, and the materials
lie scattered around the foundation, or rolled down
the hill on either side. The ground falls within the
walls in the same manner that it does without : the
town was situated in the hollow, so that no part of
it could be seen from the outside of the walls. Nume-
rous ruined houses still remain, with small gardens
interspersed among them. We passed on through the
centre of the ruins, and about the middle of them
came to a ruined temple or theatre, as it has been
supposed, part of which had lately been cleared out
by the exertions of Lady Hester Stanhope. A few
columns of grey granite, and one of red, with an
50 PALESTINE ; OR,
unusually large proportion of feldspar, and some small
portions of the walls, are all that were then visible of
this once extensive edifice. In the highest part of the
town we found the remains of a Christian convent,
close upon the sea, with a well of excellent water
beside it. The sea beats strongly against the bank on
which the convent stands; and six prostrate columns
of grey granite, which we saw half covered with the
waves, attest the effects of its encroachments. There
is no bay nor any shelter for shipping ; but a small
harbour, advancing a little way into the town towards
its eastern extremity, seems to have been formed for
the accommodation of such small craft as was used
in the better days of the city.
“Askelon was one of the proudest satrapies of the
lords of the Philistines; now there is not an inhabit-
ant within its walls ; and the prophecy of Zechariah
is fulfilled, “The king shall perish from Gaza, and
Askelon shall not be inhabited.' * When the pro-
phecy was uttered, both cities were in an equally
flourishing condition ; and nothing but the prescience
of Heaven could pronounce on which of the two, and
in what manner, the vial of his wrath should thus be
poured out. Gaza is truly without a king. The
lofty towers of Askelon lie scattered on the ground,
and the ruins within its walls do not shelter a human
being. How is the wrath of man made to praise his
Creator Hath he said, and shall he not do it P. The
oracle was delivered by the mouth of the prophet
more than five hundred years before the Christian era,
and we behold its accomplishment eighteen hundred
years after that event. .
“Askelon was the birth-place of Herod the Great,
and several eminent Mussulmams.
* Zech. ix. 6. See also Zeph. ii. 4.
THE HOLY LAND, 5, 1
“We now pursued our way across the hill, which
was covered with a plentiful mixture of grass and
sand, and arrived at the village of Misdal (or Mezdel),
situated in a beautiful plain, and surrounded with
small gardens, hedged with the Indian fig-tree. An
hour and a half from Askelon, we reached the village
Hamami. Its environs are cultivated, and the crops
abundant, but quite overgrown with thistles, exten-
sive plantations of which line the road on each side.
At present, although our prospect is extensive, there
is not a tree in sight ; yet the growth of spring
clothes the undulating fields, and every thing is fresh
and beautiful.” It is not like the land of Egypt, but
it is a thousand times more interesting. Having
passed a large tumulus on the top of an adjoining hill,
the history of which we could not learn, we came in
sight of Ashdod (Azotus), pronounced in the country
Shdood. In about half an hour we crossed a broad
stone bridge, erected over the bed of a river : there
was stagnant water in several places. Next we came
to the ruined village of Tookrair, situated on the top
of a hill on the left, which seems to have been a place
of considerable consequence, probably Ekrom.-H. Soon
. after, we arrived at Ashdod, passed the town and the
well, with a small contiguous mosque on the road-
side, turned into a pleasant grassy field, and pitched
our tents for the night.
“The ground around Ashdod is beautifully undu-
lating, the pasture luxuriant, but not half stocked
!
* Sir F. Henniker describes the vale of Askelon as enamelled
with flowers: “ among others,” he says, “ our garden pink
assumes the place of daisles.”
t Ekron was near the sea, between Ashdod and Jamnia. It was
once a powerful city. Its territory was the border of the land of
Judah. See Joshua, xv. 11.
52 PALESTINE ; OR,
with cattle. The site of the town is on the summit
of a grassy hill; and, if we are to believe historians,
was anciently as strong as it was beautiful. Hero-
dotus states, that Psammetichus, king of Egypt, spent
twenty-nine years in besieging the city; in the end
he was successful; an event which is stated to have
occurred 1124 years B. C., about fifty years before the
reign of David in Hebron. This was another of the
five satrapies of the Philistines ; who, when they had
taken the Ark of God from the Israelites, brought
it to Ashdod, and carried it into the house of Dagon
their god: We neither saw nor heard of any ruins
here. Scarcely any of the inhabitants came near us.
They did not appear to be so sociable or so kind to
strangers as their neighbours at Barbara. Every
thing here was dearer than in Egypt: a sheep cost
eight shillings and sixpence, — the dearest in Egypt
was seven shillings, and generally but five shillings.
They charged us four piastres (about two shillings and
sixpence) for the night's grazing of our camels and
asses, which, in other places, we had with a free,
hearty welcome. The blood of the plundering Philis-
tines is still in the land.”
Gath, the fifth of the Philistine cities, which was a
place of strength in the time of the prophets Amos
and Micah, (B.C. 787–750,) is placed by Jerome on
the road between Eleutheropolis and Gaza. It appears
to have been the extreme boundary of the Philistine
territory in one direction, as Ekron was on the other :
hence the expression, (1 Sam. vii. 14.) “from Ekron
even unto Gath,” which has led to its being con-
sidered as the most southern city, and Ekron the most
northern. The phrase may be more probably inter-
preted as intimating, that Gath was the south-eastern
border, as Ekron was the north-eastern ; but it is not
THE HOLY LAND. 53
clear that the latter was more northward than Ash-
dod, or the former farther south than Gaza. Gath
might lay nearer to Arabia; and it seems to have
become finally annexed to Judea before the time of
the prophet Zephaniah, since no mention is made of
it in the denunciations against Gaza, Ascalon, Ash-
dod, and Ekron, “the inhabitants of the sea-coast
and the land of the Philistines.” (Zeph. ii. 4, 5.)
From Ashdod to Jaffa is four hours' journey, or
about twelve miles. The route lies over an undu-
lating surface ; the hills are high and partially culti-
vated, with abundance of thistles. The beautiful
gardens of Jaffa commence on each side of the road, at
the lowest part of the plain, a considerable distance
from the town. The only places mentioned by Dr.
Richardson as lying between Ashdod and Jaffa, are
the villages Bededjen, (two hours from Ashdod,) and
Djedou. Captains Irby and Mangles appear to have
taken a different and less direct route. They crossed
the Nahr (or river) El Rubin, close to the ruins of a
Roman bridge, one great arch of which, and part of
another, still remain, overgrown with bushes and
weeds. The river above the bridge was nearly dry,
(Oct. 11,) and filled with wild flowers and rushes.
Below it they noticed “a handsome winding sheet of
water, the banks of which were likewise covered with
various water-flowers, and many black water-fowl
were swimming on its surface : the water is bad, but
not salt. On the opposite side of this river, on a small
eminence, is Sheikh Rubin's tomb, surrounded by a
square wall, with some trees inclosed. There are in
Syria and Egypt numbers of these tombs, which the
Arabs erect to the memory of any man who, they
think, has led a holy life; giving the title of sheikh.
not only to their chiefs, but also to their saints. These
54 PALESTINE ; OR,
tombs are generally placed in some conspicuous spot,
frequently on the top of some mount. The sepulchre
consists of a small apartment, with a cupola over it,
whitewashed externally (see Matt. xxiii. 27) : within
are deposited a mat and a jar of water, for the ablu-
tion of such as retire thither for devotion. Sheikh
Rubin, who lived many years ago, appears to have
been much respected, and the people to this day go to
pay vows at his shrine: they also bring provisions,
and make festivals there. The river, no doubt, re-
ceives its appellation from this sheikh.”* --
The travellers passed, on their right, Yabne, the
ancient Jabneh, or Jamnia, situated on a small emi-
nence : it is still a considerable village. It lies about
three hours’ distance from Ashdod, and is reckoned
to be 240 furlongs from Jerusalem. This was another
of the Philistine cities, and was taken by Uzziah,
King of Judah. (See 2 Chron. xxvi. 6.)
The route from Gaza, taken by Ali Bey, was much
the same : it lay first E. N. E.; then N. E. and N.
through Ashdod ; then N. N. E. and N. E., passing
by Yabne, and over some wooded hills; and at length
turned N.W. to Jaffa. The distance cannot be much
less than forty miles. All the villages in this route
are, according to this traveller, situated upon heights;
the houses are extremely low, covered with thatch,
and surrounded with plantations and gardens. The
hills were covered (it was in the month of July) with
olive-trees, and plantations of tobacco in full blossom.
“All the country of Palestine,” he says, “which I
saw from Khanyounes to Jaffa, is beautiful. It is
composed of undulating hills, of a rich soil similar to
• Travels in Egypt, &c. By the Hon. C. L. Irby and James
Mangles. 8vo, pp. 183, 4,
THE HOLY LAND. 55
the slime of the Nile, and is covered with the richest
and finest vegetation. But there is not a single river
in all the district; there is not even a spring. All the
torrents I crossed were dry, and the inhabitants have
no other water to drink than that which they collect
in the rainy season, nor any other means of irrigation
than rain-water, and that of the wells, which is in-
deed good.”"
ROUTE FROM JAFFA TO JERUSALEM.
FROM Jaffa to Ramla is a journey of three hours,
about nine miles. The road lies over an undulating
surface, partially cultivated and thinly inhabited, of a
wilder and less inviting character than the country of
the Philistines. A good deal of wood is to be seen
near Jaffa ; but afterwards, the road is bare, except
that olive-trees cover some of the hills. The neigh-
bourhood of Ramla, however, is adorned with many
trees, among which the palm is conspicuous.
Ramla, or Rameli, the ancient Rama (of Ephraim),
and supposed to be the Arimathea of the New Testa-
ment, is, by Phocas, computed to be 37 miles from
Jerusalem : + it is situated in a rich plain, and con-
tains about 2000 families. Here is a Latin convent,
the whole brotherhood of which are Spaniards, said to
have been founded by Philip the Good, duke of Bur-
gundy; it is the universal home of Christian travel-
lers in this quarter. The Greeks and Armenians
have also convents here. There were two churches,
which are now converted into mosques. The great
* Travels of Ali Bey, vol. ii. p. 209.
# If this be correct, Jaffa cannot be less than forty-six or forty-
seven miles from Jerusalem; though Quaresmius, on the authority
of Jerome, makes it only forty, .*
# Travels of Ali Bey, p. 211.
56 PALESTINE ; OR,
mosque was a Greek church : the tower is very lofty,
and in good preservation. Near it is a large building,
supported by pillars, supposed to be the remains of
a monastery. In one of the mosques is the tomb of
Aayoub Bey, a Mamelouk, who fled from Egypt on
the arrival of the French, and died here : it is of
beautiful white marble, with bas-reliefs, and gilt in-
scriptions. Near the Latin burial-place is a large
tank, or cistern, under ground, which has always
plenty of good water in it. “The root of the tama-
risk-tree growing into it,” Pococke says, “the waters
are esteemed good for the dropsy.” There are, he
tells us, great ruins of houses in this place; so that it
seems formerly to have been a much more considerable
town than it is at present, and it probably flourished
during the time of the Crusades. On a high hill to
the west of the town, stands a venerable ruin, called
the Tower of the Martyrs, with some stately syca-
mores near it, overlooking the plain. The bodies of
the martyrs of Sebaste, in Armenia, are said to have
been deposited at Ramla ; and from them, probably,
the tower receives its name.
About a league to the E. N. E. in this plain is
Lydda, still called Loudd, where St. Peter cured
AEneas of the palsy. It was destroyed by Cestius in
the beginning of the Jewish war, and, when rebuilt,
was called Diospolis. It is now a poor village; but the
stones to be seen in the modern buildings, shew that
it has been a place of some consequence. Here are
the remains of a very fine church, built of hewn stone,
and of excellent masonry. It is attributed by some
writers to the emperor Justinian, by others to a king
of England; but Pococke concludes that it was pro-
bably repaired by Richard Coeur de Lion, the archi-
tecture being decidedly of higher antiquity. The
THE HOLY LAND. 57
Greeks hold (or then held) the eastern part of the
ruined church ; which is uncovered, except that over
the high altar there remains a pointed arch, which,
perhaps, was built when the church was repaired.
The Turks have turned the west end into a mosque ;
having, says Pococke, a great veneration for St. George,
who, according to the legend of the place, suffered
here. All this country is described by the learned
traveller as very rich soil, throwing up a great quan-
tity of herbage ; among which he specifies chardons,
rue, fennel, and the striped thistle, “probably on this
account called the holy thistle.” A great variety of
anemonies, he was told, grow in the neighbourhood.
“I saw likewise,” he adds, “many tulips growing
wild in the fields (in March); and any one who con-
siders how beautiful those flowers are to the eye,
would be apt to conjecture that these are the lilies to
which Solomon, in all his glory, was not to be com-
pared.” The lily referred to by our Lord, is, however,
supposed by some critics to have rather been the
Amaryllis lutea, or autumnal Narcissus, which is
found in profusion in the countries bordering on the
Levant, clothing the fields in autumn with a vivid
golden brilliancy.
Between Rama and Jeremiah, about twelve miles
from Jerusalem, lies the Arab village of Bethoor,
where Dr. Clarke was by accident compelled to pass
a night. It is noticed by no other traveller; and
yet, there is the highest probability that this is the
Beth-horon of the Scriptures, which Josephus places
in this direction. St. Jerome associates it with Rama,
in the remark that they were then, together with
other noble cities built by Solomon, only poor villages.
Beth-horon stood on the confines of Ephrain and
Benjamin ; which, according to the learned traveller,
58 PALESTINE ; OR,
exactly answers to the situation of Bethoor. He sup-
poses it, from its situation on a hill. to be Beth-horon
the upper, (the Beth-horon superior of Eusebius,) of
which frequent notice occurs in the apocryphal
writings. Josephus mentions that Cestius, the Ro-
man general, marched upon Jerusalem by way of
Lydda and Beth-horon.”
In this neighbourhood the Arabs are very trouble-
some : sometimes they have been known to rob the
inhabitants of Ramla in their very gardens. In Po-
cocke’s time, it was considered as one of the most
dangerous roads in Turkey. F For some miles the
road is over a level plain, the ground somewhat
marshy : it then rises as you approach the rocky
scenery; and just before the road enters the hills, at
a short distance, is the place called Ladrown by the
Franks, which admits of a various interpretation.
Pococke, who describes it as a large ruined building
over a precipice, supposes it to be “what is commonly
called the castle of the good thief, where they say he was
born and lived.” In other words, the monks, who
must needs assign a local habitation for every per-
sonage spoken of in the New Testament, have pitched
upon this very suitable spot as the imaginary resi-
* See 1 Macc. iii. 16; vii. 39; ix. 50. Josh. x. 10, 11. 1 Chron.
vii. 24. Joseph. Jewish Wars, lib. ii. cap. 23.
t The whole distance from Jerusalem to Jaffa, according to the
usual time of travelling, might be performed in about fifteen or
sixteen hours: “but owing,” says Dr. Clarke, “to rugged and
pathless rocks, over which the traveller must pass, it is impossible
to perform it in less than a day and a half. When it is considered
that this has always been the principal route of pilgrims, and that
during the Crusades it was much frequented, it is singular that no
attempt was ever made to facilitate the approach to the Holy City.
The wildest passes of the Apennines are not less open to travel-
lers. No part of the country is so much infested by predatory
Arabs.”—Travels, vol. iv. 8vo, chap. ix. p. 420. -
THE HOLY LAND. 59
dence of the penitent malefactor, one of those who
was crucified with our Lord ; and the building may
have received its name from him. Dr. Richardson,
however, interprets it, the den of thieves; and the
encounter which he had with its inhabitants suffi-
ciently justified the appellation. The party were pro-
ceeding merrily along a scarcely-perceptible track on
the turf, when a haggard-looking Arab, springing
across the field, seized Lord Corry's mule by the
bridle, and refused to let him proceed. He happened
to be in advance of the party. The affair might have
had an unpleasant issue, but one of the muleteers
coming up, explained to the Arab that they were
travelling under the protection of the governor of
Jaffa, and that the brother of a distinguished chieftain
was their conductor. “Instantly at the sound, (says
Dr. R.,) he dropped the bridle, and walked off, gnash-
ing his whetted teeth over the prey that had just been
snatched from his jaws, having taken us for unpro-
tected pilgrims, whom it was his intention to insult, .
plunder, and detain. How blank and dastard he
looked, the ragged red-haired knave, as he slunk
across the field to his thievish den, that lay in the
shape of a farm-house, a little off the road,”—the
identical Ladron.”
The aspect of this part of the country is bleak, the
trees are few and small, ºf the soil hard, and of a bad
quality; mountains of naked limestone. The prospect
among the hills is described by Dr. Clarke, as resem-
bling the worst parts of the Apennines. We shall
avail ourselves of the picturesque description given by
* Travels, vol. ii. p. 220.
# Chateaubriand particularises the dwarf oak, the box-tree, the
rose-laurel, and the olive.
60 PALESTINE ; OR,
Dr. Richardson of the road from this point to Jeru-
salem.
“ In about two hours and a half from the time
that we left Ramla, we entered the mountain scenery,
the hill country of Judea. For some time before we
reached the mountains, we kept looking up at their
dusky sides, as they rose in towering grandeur to the
height of about a thousand or fifteen hundred feet
above our heads, covered with sun-burnt grass; here
and there disclosing strips of the bare horizontal rock,
and diversified with a few bushy trees that stood at
very unfriendly and forlorn distances from each other.
Having entered the mountain defiles, we moved along
a deep and most uncomfortable track, covered with
big sharp stones, sometimes down a steep and almost
precipitous descent, which obliged us to alight and
lead our mules ; at othar times along the dry stony
bed of a winter torrent, which we had to cross and
recross half a dozen times in the course of a hundred
yards : at other times we climbed a heavy and length-
ened ascent, with only a few shrubs between us and
the edge of the precipice. Thus we continued ascend-
ing and descending, one while round the projecting
base of the mountain, another while winding in the
hollow curve formed by the meeting of their circular
edges, till about one o'clock, when we stopt to refresh
the animals, having arrived at a well of good water
beside a ruined edifice, that seemed to have been
erected as a military station to guard the pass. Since
entering the mountain scenery we travelled all in a
body; the riders not separating from the beasts of
burden for fear of any unexpected attack, or any
lurching cur among our own numbers setting off with
a straggler, which the nature of the ground would
THE HOLY LAND.
soon enable him to conceal, and set every search at
defiance. g -
“ Here we found the advantage of our gallant
escort from the governor of Yaffa ; for scarcely had
we alighted from our mules to repose ourselves on the
scattered stones of the ruin, when a comfortable col-
lation was brought us by a peasant from a neigh-
bouring village, the master of which had a great
friendship for the brother of Abougösh. Whence he
came, or whither he went, we could not tell ; there
was no house or village in sight ; but we profited by
his hospitality, and resumed our march with redoubled
vigour.
“The road continued nearly the same with that
already described. The hills, from the commence-
ment of the mountain scenery, are all of a round
handsome shape, meeting in the base and separated
at the tops, not in peaks or pointed acuminations, but
like the gradual retiring of two round balls, placed in
juxta-position. Their sides are partially covered with
earth, which nourishes a feeble sprinkling of withered
grass, with here and there a dwarf tree or solitary
shrub. They are not susceptible of cultivation, ex-
cept on the very summit, where we saw the plough
going in several places. They might be terraced, but
there are no traces of their ever having been so. The
rock crops out in many places, but never in preci-
pitous cliffs ; the strata are horizontal, and in many
places have exactly the appearance of the stone courses
in a building. The features of the whole scenery
brought strongly to my recollection the ride from
Sanquhar to Lead-hills, in Scotland; and to those who
have visited this interesting part of my native country,
I can assure them, the comparison gives a favourable
representation of the hills of Judea. But there are
PART I. R.
62 PALESTINE ; olt,
two remarkable points of difference, which I must not
pass unnoticed ; in the northern stenery, the traveller
passes over an excellent road, and travels among an
honest and industrious population, where the con-
versation of the commonest people will often delight
and surprise the man of letters. But among the hills
of Palestine, the road is almost impassable, and the
traveller finds himself among a set of infamous and
ignorant thieves, who would cut his throat for a
farthing, and rob him of his property for the mere
pleasure of doing it. *
“At half-past three o'clock we reached the village
of Karialoonah, the residence of Ibrahim Abougösh,
the brother of our conductor, the chief of his tribe,
the prince of the Arabs, and a plunderer of pilgrims.
However, we had nothing to fear; we were conducted
by his brother, and had, moreover, a letter of intro-
duction from the Lady Hester Stanhope. The worthy
veteran appeared to have been apprized of our coming,
for immediately on our arrival he presented himself to
welcome us. He was habited after the fashion of his
country, with a tobacco-pipe in his hand, and a fine
India shawl, for a turban, on his head ; the other
parts of his dress were of unbleached cotton cloth,
plain and homely, like that of the Bedoweens. In
stature he is rather under the middling size, but of a
robust and vigorous make, admirably formed for sup-
porting fatigue ; his complexion is swarthy, his features
regular and animated, with a fine dark eye, placid
and moist as a drop of dew. You would say that this
•man is formed to make love and captivate the hearts
of his species; better fitted for the bower than the
field, more a Paris than a Hector, a servant of Venus
than a votary of Mars. This individual possessed his
own mind, and modelled his exterior by an unusual
THE HOLY LAND. 63
calmness of manner; when he spoke, the man was
rarely revealed in his countenance ; a secret purpose
lurked in the bottom of his eye, that shewed his heart
had other game than what was started by his tongue.
We looked, admired, and looked again. Is this the
man that rules the Arabs, of whom even the Turkish
governors are afraid P
“There was time enough for us to have gone to
Jerusalem, but here we had determined to stay, and
had turned off the road into a dry stony field on the
left, to take up our station, and pitch our tents for the
night, when the chieftain preferred a pressing request
to the noble traveller, that we should save ourselves
that trouble, and make his house our home, with such
accommodation as he could afford. The request was
made in such an hospitable manner, and so ardently
seconded by his brother, that it was impossible to
refuse it ; and it would have been imprudent, had we
been so inclined.
“Having accepted the invitation, we followed our
host across the road to his house on the other side of
the valley. Orders were immediately given to prepare
dinner for the party, and we walked with him about
the premises till it was ready. The residence of this
Arab chief is about two hours ar, & a half distant from
Jerusalem ; it is pleasantly situated on the east side
of the valley, and resembles very much the mansion
and offices of a wealthy farmer in this country, having
much accommodation for men, horses, and cattle,
without regard to taste or appearance. Everything
about it is more useful than ornamental : the ground
around is terraced and of a good quality, littlé culti-
vated, but abundantly shewing its fertility in long
grass, olive, sycamore, and fig trees, which are in
greater numbers on the other side of the valley than
64 PALESTINE; OR,
around the house. On the top of a high mountain to
the south stands Modin, still called by the same name,
and still a place of strength ; it is in the territory of
Abougôsh, and known as the site of the city and tombs
of the illustrious and patriotic Maccabees. Here Simon
of that family set up seven pyramids, one against
another, for his father, his mother, his four brethren,
and himself. Much building, and ruin still remain
about the place.
“There is little to be seen, however, as to beauty
or repair, about the mansion of an Arab chief. The
sun sinks beneath the horizon, and we enter his sub-
stantial dwelling. The prince himself led the way up
one pair of stairs, followed by the Earl and Countess
of Belmore, and the gentlemen of their suite. He
conducted us into his principal room, which was fitted
up in the usual Eastern style. A low portion, cut off
by a rail across the room, for the servants or visitors
of inferior consideration to stand without, and an ele-
vated and a larger portion within, provided with a low
sofa round the sides on the floor, for the accommoda-
tion of those visitors whom the chief delighted to ho-
nour. One small window illuminated the apartment;
but it was now beginning to get dark, and the light
of the sun was succeeded by that of a solitary candle,
which only served to make darkness a little more visi-
ble than the faint rays of twilight.
“On the appearance of dinner, the farthing candle
was exchanged for one of larger dimensions, set upon
the floor; the dinner was also set down on the floor at
our feet, and we hitched down from the edge of the
sofa to reach it. It consisted of a great profusion of
rice, boiled fowl, different kinds of boiled and minced
meat and rice mixed together, forming a kind of
sausage, enclosed in the skin of a gourd, resembling
THE HOLY LAND. 65
a cucumber, and several other trifling articles ; all of
which were so admirably seasoned, that having tasted
of one, we felt no disposition to quit it for another,
and when we had done so, were as little inclined to
return or to change it for a third or a fourth : yet
most of us, I believe, were induced to try a little of
each. of them, and became such proselytes to Arab
cookery, that we protested in good earnest we should
wish to dine so every day in our lives, as far as eating
was concerned, though neither roast-beef nor plum-
pudding were among the dishes. Not so with respect
to the auxiliary implements of feeding, which were
rather of an awkward description, though ancient as
our mouths, and all of us had them in our finger ends.
Fork and knives there were none, and only one spoon
to help a little lebn or sour milk upon the rice. When
the invitation to commence the attack issued from
the lips of our landlord, we looked at each other, as
much as to say, ‘How shall we proceed 2’ The good
man himself sat by, and, out of respect for his guests,
did not mean to partake of any thing till they were
satisfied, which Lord Belmore perceiving, imme-
diately requested that he would set us the example.
Then ‘bismilla,” in the name of the Lord,—a pretty
general, though not a universal signal among the
Arabs to commence the act of manducation ; — he
tucked up the long dangling sleeves of his shirt as
far as his elbow, and thrust his washed hand into
the mountain of rice that smoked before him, and
having taken a handful, he formed it into an oblong
ball, by folding his fist ; this being done, he put
his finger and thumb behind it, thrust it into his
mouth, and down his throat in the twinkling of an
eye. Then he tore off the leg of a fowl, part of which
immediately followed the rice: the rest was returned
E 2
66 PALESTINE ; OR,
into the plate, to serve the next comer to the dish.
Again he returned to the rice, and again to the fowl
or the beef; judiciously alternating layer upon layer,
handing, mouthing, and swallowing, and hospitably
inviting us to follow his example, and instructing us
how to ball the rice, and thrust it into our mouths.
No ceremony or city civilization here. His brother
followed at a distance, and did not begin till after much
intreaty ; but, once engaged, played quite as good a
fist as Abougösh himself. Thus we all went on eat-
ing, talking, laughing, and enjoying ourselves, till
abundant repletion taught us to desist ; then Al
ham de lelahi, glory to God, we are satisfied, and a
servant comes round with a pitcher full of water, part
of which he pours upon our hands ; we wash, and it
falls into the basin below ; then, having dried, he re-
ceives the towel, and goes round to perform the same
ceremony to the next, and thus makes the tour of the
company.”
“Next morning, we left our beds at an early hour;
but the earliest of the party was preceded by Abou-
gösh. On quitting the apartment, and going to the
top of the stair, where a low wall between the two
houses furnishes a charming prospect of the valley
below, I found him sitting on his heel in the shade,
although the sun had scarcely shone on his abode.
He held his pipe in his hand, which he had just taken
from his lips, to address a party of his men whom
he had called around him, and whom, it appeared, he
was about to despatch on some piratical expedition......
Breakfast was spread on the floor, and orders were
given to load the camels and the mules. With all
possible despatch we got ready, and sallied forth from
the castle of our Arab chief, greatly delighted with
his hospitality, and not less with the idea of reaching
THE HOLY LAND. 67
Jerusalem in two hours and a half from the time of
starting. As Abougösh frequently visits Jerusalem,
the parting scene was nothing more than a simple
good morning; he saw us all mounted at the gate,
and bade us adieu. We had the pleasure of seeing
him frequently at the Holy City. His brother con-
tinued to accompany us all the way.
“ The road between Karialoonah and Jerusalem
presents nearly the same features with that in the
other parts of the hill country which we had already
passed. The mountains continued on the right and
on the left, with here and there a triangular patch of
low alluvial land, opening into a narrow valley, per-
vaded by a small stream of water that scarcely covered
its pebbly bed. We passed the villages of Caglioné
and Lefta, and a small brook trickling down through
the valley of Turpentine. Having ascended the hill,
where the road has been formed with considerable
care, from the ledge of the rock, we passed the vil-
lage of Abdelcader, the property of our green-coated
sheikh, on the left, and in a few minutes came in
sight of Jerusalem, from which we were distant about
ten minutes' walk of our mules.
“These plain embattled walls in the midst of a barren
mountain track, do they enclose the city of Jerusalem 2
That hill at a distance on our left, supporting a crop
of barley, and crowned with a half-ruined hoary man-
sion, is that the Mount of Olives 2 Where was the
temple of Solomon, and where is Mount Zion, the
glory of the whole earth 2 The end of a lofty and
contiguous mountain bounds our view beyond the city
on the south. An insulated rock peaks up on our
right, and a broad, flat-topped mountain, furrowed by
the plough, slopes down upon our left. The city is
straight before us; but the greater part of it stands in
68 PALESTINE ; OR.
a hollow, that opens to the east; and the walls being
built upon the higher ground on the north and on
the west, prevent the interior from being seen in this
direction. We proceed down the gentle descent, covered
with well-trodden grass, which neither the sun mor
the passengers had yet deprived of its verdure. The
ground sinks on our right into what has been called
the valley of the Son of Hinnom, which at the north-
west corner of the wall becomes a broad, deep ravine,
that passes the gate of Yaffa or Bethlehem, and runs
along the western wall of the city. Arrived at the
gate, though guarded by Turkish soldiers, we pass
without tribute or interruption. The rosy counte-
nance of Abdel Rahman, the brother of Abougôsh,
like a handful of gold, is every where a passport.
The castle of David, or, to call it by its modern name,
the tower of the Pisans, is on our right ; on our left
is a rugged stone wall inclosing a vacant field with a
pool or cistern. The ruins are at the gates ; but
nothing of the grandeur of the city appears. We
turned to the left, where the houses commence on
both hands, and a few steps brought us to the Latin
convent of Saint Salvador. The fathers and the
interpreters, in their robes, immediately came to wel-
come us to the Holy City: with all possible despatch
the animals were relieved of their burdens, and we
with all our effects were accommodated within its
sacred walls.””
* Travels, vol. ii. pp. 221–237.
， ， ， ， ， ，
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|- . . .
|×

THE HOLY LAND. 69
JERUSALEM.
Long. 350 20 E. Lat. 31°47' 47" N.
THE approach to Jerusalem from Jaffa is not the
direction in which to see the city to the best effect.
Dr. Clarke entered it by the Damascus gate, and he
describes the view of Jerusalem, when first descried
from the summit of a hill, at about an hour's distance,
as most impressive. He confesses, at the same time,
that there is no other point of view in which it is
seen to so much advantage. In the celebrated pro-
spect from the Mount of Olives, the city lies too low,
is too near the eye, and has too much the character of
a bird’s-eye view, with the formality of a topographical
plan. “We had not been prepared,” says this lively
traveller, “for the grandeur of the spectacle which
the city alone exhibited. Instead of a wretched and
ruined town, by some described as the desolated rem-
nant of Jerusalem, we beheld, as it were, a flourish-
ing and stately metropolis, presenting a magnificent
assemblage of domes, towers, palaces, churches, and
monasteries ; all of which, glittering in the sun's
rays, shone with inconceivable splendour. As we
drew nearer, our whole attention was engrossed by
its noble and interesting appearance. The lofty hills
surrounding it, give the city itself an appearance bf
elevation less than it really has.” Dr. Clarke was
fortunate in catching this first view of Jerusalem
under the illusion of a brilliant evening sunshine, but
his description is decidedly overcharged. M. Chateau-
briand, Mr. Buckingham, Mr. Brown, Mr. Jolliffe,
Sir F. Henniker, and almost every other modern
traveller, confirm the representation of Dr. Richard-
7O PALESTINE ; OR,
son. Mr. Buckingham says: “ The appearance of
this celebrated city, independent of the feelings and
recollections which the approach to it cannot fail to
awaken, was greatly inferior to my expectations, and
had certainly nothing of grandeur or beauty, of state-
liness or magnificence, about it. It appeared like a
walled town of the third or fourth class, having
neither towers, nor domes, nor minarets within it, in
sufficient numbers to give even a character to its im-
pressions on the beholder; but shewing chiefly large
flat-roofed buildings of the most unornamented kind,
seated amid rugged hills, on a stony and forbidding
soil, with scarcely a picturesque object in the whole
compass of the surrounding view.”
Chateaubriand’s description is very striking and
graphical. After citing the language of the prophet
Jeremiah, in his lamentations on the desolation of
the ancient city, as accurately portraying its present
state,” he thus proceeds : —
“When seen from the Mount of Olives, on the
other side of the valley of Jehoshaphat, Jerusalem
presents an inclined plane, descending from west to
east. An embattled wall, fortified with towers and a
Gothic castle, encompasses the city all round ; ex-
cluding, however, part of Mount Sion, which it for-
merly enclosed. In the western quarter, and in the
centre of the city, the houses stand very close ; but,
iri the eastern part, along the brook Kedron, you
perceive vacant spaces; among the rest, that which
surrounds the mosque erected on the ruins of the
Temple, and the nearly-deserted spot where once
stood the castle of Antonia and the second palace
of Herod.
* Lainentations i. 1–6; ii. 1––9, 15.
THE HOLY LAN D. 71
“The houses of Jerusalem are heavy square masses,
very low, without chimneys or windows; they have
flat terraces or domes on the top, and look like prisons
or sepulchres. The whole would appear to the eye
one uninterrupted level, did not the steeples of the
churches, the minarets of the mosques, the summits
of a few cypresses, and the clumps of nopals, break
the uniformity of the plan. On beholding these stone
buildings, encompassed by a stony country, you are
ready to inquire if they are not the confused monu-
ments of a cemetery in the midst of a desert.
“Enter the city, but nothing will you there find to
make amends for the dulness of its exterior. You
lose yourself among narrow, unpaved streets, here
going up hill, there down, from the inequality of the
ground, and you walk among clouds of dust or loose
stones. Canvas stretched from house to house in-
creases the gloom of this labyrinth. Bazars, roofed
over, and fraught with infection, completely exclude
the light from the desolate city. A few paltry shops
expose nothing but wretchedness to view, and even
these are frequently shut, from apprehension of the
passage of a cadi. Not a creature is to be seen in the
streets, not a creature at the gates, except now and
then a peasant gliding through the gloom, concealing
under his garments the fruits of his labour, lest he
should be robbed of his hard earnings by the rapacious
soldier. Aside, in a corner, the Arab butcher is
slaughtering some animal, suspended by the legs from
a wall in ruins : from his haggard and ferocious look,
and his bloody hands, you would suppose that he had
been cutting the throat of a fellow-creature, rather
than killing a lamb. The only noise heard from time
to time in the city, is the galloping of the steed of the
72 PALESTINE ; or,
deſert : it is the janissary who brings the head of the
Bedouin, or who returns from plundering the un-
happy Fellah.
“Amid this extraordinary desolation, you must
pause a moment to contemplate two circumstances
still more extraordinary. Among the ruins of Jeru-
salem, two classes of independent people find in their
religion sufficient fortitude to enable them to sur-
mount such complicated horrors and wretchedness.
Here reside communities of Christian monks, whom
nothing can compel to forsake the tomb of Christ;
neither plunder nor personal ill-treatment, nor me-
naces of death itself. Night and day they chaunt
their hymns around the Holy Sepulchre. Driven
by the cudgel and the sabre, women, children, flocks,
and herds, seek refuge in the cloisters of these re-
cluses. What prevents the armed oppressor from
pursuing his prey, and overthrowing such feeble ram-
parts P The charity of the monks : they deprive
themselves of the last resources of life to ransom their
suppliants.".... Cast your eyes between the Temple
* Dr. Clarke draws a somewhat different picture of these holy
friars: he describes them, in the first place, as the most corpu-
lent he had ever seen issue from the warmest cloisters of Spain
or Italy. Their comfortable convent, compared with the usual
accommodations of the Holy Land, is, he says, like a sumptuous
and well-furnished hotel. “ The influence which a peculiar
mode of life has upon the constitution in this climate, might,”
he adds, “ be rendered evident, by contrasting one of these jolly
fellows” (the guardians of the Holy Sepulchre, or, according to
the name they bear, the Terra Santa friars,) “ with the Propa-
ganda missionaries. The latter are as meagre and as pale as
the former are corpulent and ruddy.” In the commotions
which have taken place in Jerusalem, the convent of St. Salva-
dor has been repeatedly plundered; yet still, the riches of the
treasury are said to be considerable. The Franciscans complain
heavily of the exactions of the Turks, who make frequent and
*º-
THE HOLY LAND. 73
and Mount Sion; behold another petty tribe, cut off
from the rest of the inhabitants of this city. The
particular objects of every species of degradation,
these people bow their heads without murmuring;
they endure every kind of insult without demanding
justice; they sink beneath repeated blows without
sighing; if their head be required, they present it to
the scimitar. On the death of any member of this
proscribed community, his companion goes at night,
and inters him by stealth in the valley of Jehosha-
phat, in the shadow of Solomon's Temple. Enter the
abodes of these people, you will find them, amid the
most abject wretchedness, instructing their children
to read a mysterious book, which they in their turn
will teach their offspring to read. What they did
five thousand years ago, these people still continue to
do. Seventeen times have they witnessed the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem, yet nothing can discourage them,
nothing can prevent them from turning their faces
towards Sion. To see the Jews scattered over the
large demands on them for money. “But,” remarks Dr. C., “the
fact of their being able to answer these demands affords a proof of
the wealth of their convent.” Sir Sidney Smith, during his visit
to Jerusalem, rendered them essential service, which they have
not forgotten, by remonstrating with the Turkish governor against
one of these avanias, as they are called, and finally inducing him
to withdraw the charge. Hasseldºuist states the sum that yearly
passed through the hands of the procurator of the convent to be
at least half a million of livres. “ The revenues,” he says,
“ arise from alms, the greatest part from Spain and Portugal;
from those people who permit the barbarians fo ruin their trade,
and plunder their country without supplying one piastre for
their chastisement; but send yearly a considerable sum to Jeru-
salem to be devoured by Turks, their inveterate enemies, and by
monks who are useless inhabitants in Europe, and unnecessary
at Jerusalem, where they are of no sort of advantage to Chris-
tianity.”
PART I. F
74 PALESTINE ; or,
whole world, according to the Word of God, must
doubtless excite surprise. But, to be struck with
supernatural astonishment, you must view them at
Jerusalem ; you must behold these rightful masters of
Judea living as slaves and strangers in their own
country ; you must behold them expecting, under all
oppressions, a king who is to deliver them. Crushed
by the Cross that condemns them, skulking near the
Temple, of which not one stone is left upon another,
they continue in their deplorable infatuation. The
Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, are swept from the
earth ; and a petty tribe, whose origin preceded that
of those great nations, still exists unmixed among the
ruins of its native land.” "
“Jerusalem,” remarks another modern traveller,
“ is called even by Mohammedans, the Blessed City
(El Gootz, or El Koudes). The streets of it are
narrow and deserted, the houses dirty and ragged,
the shops few and forsaken ; and throughout the
whole there is not one symptom of either commerce,
comfort, or happiness. . . . . . The best view of it is
from the Mount of Olives : it commands the exact
shape and nearly every particular, viz. the church
of the Holy Sepulchre, the Armenian convent, the
mosque of Omar, St. Stephen’s gate, the round-topped
houses, and the barren vacancies of the city. With-
out the walls are a Turkish burial-ground, the tomb
of David, a small grove near the tombs of the kings,
and all the rest is a surface of rock, on which are
a few numbered trees. The mosque of Omar is the
St. Peter's of Turkey, and the respective saints are
held respectively by their own faithful in equal vene-
* Travels in Greece, Palestine, &c., by F. A. de Chateaubriand,
THE HOLY LAND. 75
ration. The building itself has a light, pagoda ap-
pearance ; the garden in which it stands occupies a
considerable part of the city, and contrasted with
the surrounding desert is beautiful. . . . . The burial-
place of the Jews is over the valley of Kedron, and
the fees for breaking the soil afford a considerable
revenue to the governor. The burial-place of the
Turks is under the walls, near St. Stephen's gate.
From the opposite side of the valley, I was witness to
the ceremony of parading a corpse round the mosque
of Omar, and then bringing it forth for burial. I
hastened to the grave, but was soon driven away :
as far as my on dit tells me, it would have been worth
seeing. The grave is strewn with red earth, supposed
to be of the Ager Damascenws of which Adam was
made ; by the side of the corpse is placed a stick,
and the priest tells him that the devil will tempt him
to become a Christian, but that he must make good
use of his stick ; that his trial will last three days,
and that he will then find himself in a mansion of
glory, &c.” "
The Jerusalem of sacred history is, in fact, no
more. Not a vestige remains of the capital of David
and Solomon ; not a monument of Jewish times is
standing. The very course of the walls is changed,
and the boundaries of the ancient city are become
doubtful. The monks pretend to shew the sites of
the sacred places ; but neither Calvary, nor the Holy
Sepulchre, much less the Dolorous Way, the house
of Caiaphas, &c., have the slightest pretensions to
even a probable identity with the real places to which
the tradition refers. Dr. Clarke has the merit of
* Notes during a Visit to Egypt, &c., by Sir Federick Hen-
miker, bart. 8vo. pp. 274–278,
76 PALESTINE ; OR,
being the first modern traveller who ventured to
speak of the preposterous legends and clumsy forgeries
of the priests with the contempt which they merit.
“To men interested in tracing, within the walls,
antiquities referred to by the documents of sacred
history, no spectacle,” remarks the learned traveller,
“can be more mortifying than the city in its present
state. The mistaken piety of the early Christians,
in attempting to preserve, has either confused or
annihilated the memorials it was anxious to render
conspicuous. Viewing the havoc thus made, it may
now be regretted that the Holy Land was ever
rescued from the dominion of Saracens, who were far
less barbarous than their conquerors. The absurdity,
for example, of hewing the rocks of Judea into shrines
and chapels, and of disguising the face of nature with
painted domes and gilded marble coverings, by way
of commemorating the scenes of our Saviour's life and
death, is so evident, and so lamentable, that even
Sandys, with all his credulity, could not avoid a happy
application of the reproof conveyed by the Roman
satirist against a similar violation of the Egerian
fountain.” ”
Dr. Clarke, however, though he discovers his sound
judgement in these remarks, has contributed very little
to the illustration of the topography of Jerusalem.
* Travels in various Countries, part ii. vol. iv. 8vo. pp. 295, 296.
Sandys’ words are, speaking of the supposititious sepulchre, that
“ those natural forms are utterly deformed, which would have
better satisfied the beholder, and too much regard hath made them
less regardable.
— Quanto praestantius esset
Numen aquae, viridi si margine clauderet undas
Herba : mec ingenuum violarent marmora tophum.
JU v. Sat. 3.”
THE HO LY LAND. 77
His plan is extremely inaccurate, and his hypothesis
respecting the site of the ancient Zion altogether
baseless. It is quite evident that he trusted to his
recollection in drawing up the account of Jerusalem,
and that his memory has misled him. By far the
best account which has been given of the sacred city,
is that furnished by Dr. Richardson, who, by virtue
of his professional character as a physician,—a cha-
racter esteemed sacred all over the East,--was per-
mitted four times to enter, in company with some of
the principal Turks in Jerusalem, the sacred enclosure
of the Stoa Sakhara, the mosque of Omar. With the
exception of Ali Bey, who passed for a Moslem,
though really a Spaniard, Dr. R. is the only Frank
whose feet have trodden the consecrated ground with
impunity, since the days of the Crusades. A Jew
or a Christian entering within its precincts, must,
if discovered, forfeit either his religion or his life.
Sir F. Henniker states, that a few days before he
visited Jerusalem, a Greek Christian entered the
mosque. “He was a Turkish subject, and servant
to a Turk: he was invited to change his religion,
but refused, and was immediately murdered by the
mob. His body remained exposed in the street; and
a passing Mussulman, kicking up the head, exclaimed,
* That is the way I would serve all Christians.’ ”
Before we proceed, however, to enter the Mahom-
medan holy of holies, by far the most interesting,
and perhaps the most ancient edifice now standing
in Jerusalem, we shall avail ourselves of Dr. Richard.
son’s minute account of the modern town.
“It is,” he remarks, “a tantalizing circumstance
for the traveller who wishes to recognise in his walks
the site of particular buildings, or the scenes of me-
78 PALESTINE ; OR,
morable events, that the greater part of the objects
mentioned in the description both of the inspired and
the Jewish historian, are entirely removed, and razed
from their foundation, without leaving a single trace
or name behind to point out where they stood. Not
an ancient tower, or gate, or wall, or hardly even a
stone remains. The foundations are not only broken
up, but every fragment of which they were composed
is swept away, and the spectator looks upon the bare
rock with hardly a sprinkling of earth to point out
her gardens of pleasure, or groves of idolatrous devo-
tion. And when we consider the palaces, and towers,
and walls about Jerusalem, and that the stones of
which some of them were constructed were thirty feet
long, fifteen feet broad, and seven and a half feet
thick, we are not more astonished at the strength,
and skill, and perseverance by which they were con-
structed, than shocked by the relentless and brutal
hostility by which they were shattered and over-
thrown, and utterly removed from our sight. A few
gardens still remain on the sloping base of Mount
Zion, watered from the pool of Siloam ; the gardens of
Getosemane are still in a sort of ruined cultivation;
the fences are broken down, and the olive-trees decay-
ing, as if the hand that dressed and fed them were
withdrawn ; the Mount of Olives still retains a lan-
guishing verdure, and nourishes a few of those trees
from which it derives its name ; but all round about
Jerusalem the general aspect is blighted, and barren ;
the grass is withered ; the bare rock looks through
the scanty sward; and the grain itself, like the staring
progeny of famine, seems in doubt whether to come
to maturity, or die in the ear. The vine that was
brought from Egypt is cut off from the midst of the
THE HOLY LAND. 79
land; the vineyards are wasted ; the hedges are taken
away; and the graves of the ancient dead are open
and tenantless.”
The Jerusalem that now is, is still a respectable,
good-looking town, of an irregular shape, approaching
to a square : it is surrounded by a high, embattled
wall, built, for the most part, of the common stone
of the country, which is a compact limestone. It has
now, including the golden gate, seven gates. One looks
to the west, and is called the gate of Yaffa, or Beth-
lehem, because the road to those places passes through
it. * Two look to the north, and are called the gate
of Damascus (Bab el Sham), and the gate of Herod
(or Ephraim gate). A fourth, looking to the east,
is called St. Stephen's gate, because near it the proto-
martyr was stoned to death: it is close to the Temple,
or mosque of Omar, and leads to the gardens of
Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives. The fifth
leads into the Temple, or Haram Schereeff, but is
now built up, owing, it is said, to a tradition that
the Christians will take the city by this gate : it is
called the golden gate. Another gate leads from
without the city into the mosque of El Aksa, formerly
the church of the presentation, and is called the gate
of the Virgin Mary, Bab el Setta Maria. On account
of a turn in the wall, this gate, though in the east
wall of the city, looks to the South towards Mount
Zion : it is not, however, strictly speaking, a gate
of the city. What, therefore, we reckon the sixth
gate, is the dung gate, or sterquiline gate. This is
small, not admitting either horses or carriages (of
the latter, however, there are none in Jerusalem);
* This is the pilgrims' gate, called also by the Arabs Bab el Mo-
garba, or gate of the Maugrabins.
8O PALESTINE ; OR,
and from the wall resuming its former direction, it
looks towards the east. The last is called Zion gate,
or the gate of the prophet David : it looks to the
south, and is in that part of the wall which passes
over Mount Zion.
The longest wall is that on the north side of the
city, which runs from the valley of Gihon on the
west, to the valley of Jehoshaphat on the east. The
circumference of the area now enclosed within the
walls, does not exceed, according to the measurement
of Maundrell and Pococke, two of our most accurate
travellers, two miles and a half.” The city may be
• Maundrell says: “I was willing, before our departure, to mea-
sure the circuit of the city; so, taking one of the friars with me,
I went out in the afternoon in order to pace the walls round. We
went out at Bethlehem gate, and proceeding on the right hand,
came about to the same gate again. I found the whole city 4630
paces in circumferenee, which I computed thus:–
From Bethlehem gate to the corner on the right
hand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . } 400
From that corner to Damascus gate . . . . . . . . . . . . 680
From Damascus gate to Herod's. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
From Herod's gate to Jeremiah's prison . . . . . . . . 150
From Jeremiah's prison to the corner next the
valley of Jehoshaphat - - - e º & 3 - - * * * e - - - e º 'º - - - } 225
From that corner to St. Stephen's gate. . . . . . . . 385
From St. Stephen's gate to the Golden gate . . . . 240
From the Golden gate to the corner of the
wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; 38()
From that corner to the Dung gate . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
From the Dung gate to Sion gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6()5
From Sion gate to the corner of the wall. . . . . . . . 215
From that corner to Bethlehem gate . . . . . . . . . . 500
In all, paces. . . . .4630
“ The reduction of my paces to yards, is by casting away a
tenth part, ten of my paces making nine yards; by which
THE HOLY LAND. 81
roughly stated to be about a mile in length, and half
, a mile in breadth. Pococke accurately describes it as
standing at the south end of a large plain that extends
northwards towards Samaria, though it in fact im-
mediately occupies two small hills, having valleys or
ravines on the other three sides ; which, to the east
and the south, are very deep. That on the east is the
valley of Jehoshaphat; that on the south is called the
valley of Siloam, and (erroneously) of Gehinnom ; that
on the west, which is not so deep, the valley of
Rephaim. The hills on the other side of these valleys
are, for the most part, considerably higher than either
Mount Zion or Acra. On the east, Jerusalem is com-
manded by the Mount of Olives, called Djebel Tor by
the Arabs. On the south, by what the Christians
absurdly denominate the Hill of Offence and the Hill
of Evil Counsel. On the west, by a low rocky flat,
which rises towards the north to a commanding ele-
vation : this has been called Mount Gihon. On the
north-west, Scopo, where Titus encamped, is also
higher ground than that on which Jerusalem stands.
So that the Scripture representation of Jerusalem, as
guarded by mountains, literally answers to its topo-
graphical situation : “As the mountains are round
about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his peo-
ple, from henceforth, even for ever.”*
The site of the ancient city is so unequivocally
marked by its natural boundaries on the three sides
reckoning, the 4630 paces amount to 4167 yards, which make
just two miles and a half.” –Journey from Aleppo to Jeru-
salem.
Sir F. Henniker reckoned the regular footpath, outside the
walls, to be 5320 paces: he performed the circuit in just forty-five
Rainutes, and estimates it roughly at three miles.
* Psalm crxv. 2.
F 2
82 PALESTINE : OR,
where there are ravines, that there can be no diffi-
culty, except with regard to its extent in a northeru
direction; and this may be ascertained with sufficient
accuracy from the minute description given by Jose-
phus. His account of its topography is, after all, the
best guide to the modern traveller and antiquary.
“The city of Jerusalem,” he tells us, “ was fortified
with three walls, on such parts as were not encom-
passed with impassable valleys; for in such places it
hath but one wall. The city was built upon two hills,
which are opposite to one another, and have a valley
dividing them asunder, at which valley the corre-
sponding rows of houses on both hills terminate. Of
these hills, that which contains the upper city is
much higher, and in length more direct : accordingly,
it was called the Citadel by king David ; he was the
father of that Solomon who built this Temple at the
first ; but it is by us called the Upper Market-place.
But the other hill, which was called Acra, and sus-
tains the lower city, is of the shape of the moon when
she is horned. Over against this there was a third
hill, naturally lower than Acra, and parted formerly
from the other by a broad valley. However, in those
times when the Asmoneans reigned, they filled up
that valley with earth, and had a mind to join the
city to the Temple. They then took off part of the
height of Acra, and reduced it to be of less elevation
than it was before, that the Temple might be superior
to it. Now the Valley of the Cheesemongers, as it
was called, and was that which we told you before
distinguished the hill of the upper city from that of
the lower, extended as far as Siloam ; for that is the
name of a fountain which hath sweet water in it, and
this in great plenty also. But on the outsides these
hills are surrounded by deep valleys, and, by reason
THE HOLY LANI). 83
of the precipices on both sides, are everywhere im-
passable.” “ t
The Jewish historian then goes on to describe the
course of the walls. He says, that the beginning of
the third (or outer) wall was at the tower Hippicus,
which, D'Anville is of opinion, stood near the south-
west angle of the present area of Jerusalem.t. From
this point it reached as far as the north quarter of the
city and the tower Psephinus, and then extended till
it came over against the monument of Helena, queen
of Adiabene. It then extended farther to a great
length, and passed by the sepulchral caverns of the
kings, t and bent again at the tower of the corner,
at the monument called the monument of the Fuller,
and joined to the old wall at the valley of Kedron.
The tower of Psephinus is, by D’Anville, supposed to
have occupied the site of what is called Castel Pisano,
or the Castle of the Pisans at Bethlehem gate; and
the modern name may possibly be only a corruption
of the ancient one. It is true, that the citizens of
Pisa distinguished themselves in the Crusades, and
had establishments and grants at Acre, Tyre, and
other places in the Holy Land; and Paolo Tronci,
in his Annals of Pisa, claims for two of his country-
men the honour of having been the first who scaled
the walls of Jerusalem, when the city was taken by
Godfrey of Bouillon. But history throws no other
* Josephus, Jewish Wars, book v. chap. 4.
t Pococke says: “ Herod built three towers on the north side
of Sion, and gave them the names of Hippicus, Phasaelus, and
Mariamne. The tower Hippicus was at the north-west corner
(of Sion).”
f Dr. Clarke reads the words of Josephus thus: “ And being
prolonged by the royal eaves, it bent, with a tower at the corner,
near the monument,” &c.
84 PALESTINE ; OR,
light on the origin of the name. This tower, the
learned geographer understands Josephus to say,
flanked the north-west angle of the city; and he
imagines that the western wall did not extend farther
north, but turned off toward the east. But the words
of the Jewish historian by no means imply as much
as this: on the contrary, the wall evidently extended
northward, beyond the tower Psephinus, to the monu-
ments of Helena. The supposition of D’Anville is,
besides, quite at variance with the representation that
the ancient city was limited on the western side, as
well as on the south and east, only by the ravime.
“This direction of the wall,” remarks Dr. Richard-
son, “would suit the opinion of those who contend
that the places shewn as the site of the crucifixion,
interment, and resurrection, of the blessed Jesus, are
what they are represented to be ; and this direction
of the ancient wall of the city appears to have been
chalked out to meet and support that opinion. I can
only say, that I saw no vestiges of such a wall re-
maining, and it would be the most disadvantageous
situation possible for a wall of defence, for it must
have been drawn along the low ground almost in
immediate contact with high ground that would com-
mand and overlook it, though it were raised to the
height of twenty or thirty feet, or, in some places,
forty feet. Besides, it would not make Jerusalem,
what it is called by the Psalmist, a compact city, but
a long, narrow strip, slightly fortified by nature on
the east : which does not correspond to the general
description, that it was strongly fortified by nature
on all sides but the north. There is another circum-
stance, that on the north of Bethlehem gate there is a
large cistern cut in the rock, which, as legends tell,
is the place where David saw the bathing Bathsheba,
THE HOLY L.A. N. D. 85
and which was probably within the ancient, as it is
within the walls of the present town. Moreover, to
the north of this, and to the north of the northern
wall of the present town, there is another cistern cut
in the rock, and half filled up with earth, and which,
I think, was also within the walls of the ancient
town ; and, in my opinion, the western wall of the
city stretched along the edge of the ravine, as far
as it continues, and then passed over to the brook
Kedron. The city was thus encompassed on the west
and on the south by the ravine; on the east by the
valley of Kedron ; and on the north, as is stated by
Josephus, it had no protection whatever, but from
the wall by which it was enclosed, and which, we are
assured by the same authority, was almost impreg-
nable. The fortifications were begun by Herod
Agrippa, and, after his death, the Jews purchased
from the emperor Claudius, permission to continue
them, and went on, and completed the walls, to the
height of thirty-seven feet, and in breadth fifteen feet,
with great stones of thirty feet long, and fifteen feet
broad. One part of Titus's army encamped on Scopus,
a hill at the distance of about seven stadia, or seven-
eighths of a mile from the city on the north, and
which derived its name from its elevated situation
affording a fine view of Jerusalem. Between the hill
Scopus, and the northern wall of the city, was a
sloping plain, which was covered with gardens, monu-
ments, and trees, which were all destroyed ; but the
ground still answers to the description : generally
speaking, it is covered with a thin sprinkling of earth,
and is under cultivation. Another division of the
Roman army, in which was the tenth legion, which
came through Jericho, encamped at the distance of six
furlongs from Jerusalem, at the mount called the
86 PALESTINE ; OR,
Mount of Olives, which lies over against the city on
the east side, and is parted from it by a deep valley.
which is named Cedron. This ground also answers
the description, and confirms the opinion, that the
city of Jerusalem occupies the same place now that it
did in the days of Titus; only that it is not so large,
and does not cover the whole of the space which it
did then.” ”
The royal sepulchres, which Josephus seems to
make the northern boundary of the ancient city, lie
about a mile distant from the present walls, towards
the north-west. Of this extraordinary cemetery, the
best account is that furnished by Maundrell and
Dr. Clarke.
The first place to which the traveller is conducted,
on the north side of the city, is a large grot, a little
without the Damascus gate, said to have been for
some time the residence of the prophet Jeremiah ;
they pretend to shew as his bed a shelf on the rock,
about eight feet from the ground; and the place is
held in great veneration by both Turks and Jews,
as well as Christians. In Maundrell’s time it was
a college of dervises. “The next place we came to,”
that accurate traveller proceeds, “ was those famous
grots called the Sepulchres of the Kings; but for what
reason they go by that name is hard to resolve ; for it
is certain none of the kings, either of Israel or Judah,
were buried here; the Holy Scriptures assigning other
places for their sepulchres; unless it may be thought
perhaps that Hezekiah was here interred, and that
these were the sepulchres of the sons of David,
mentioned 2 Chron. xxxii. 33. Whoever was buried
here, this is certain, that the place itself discovers
* Travels along the Mediterranean, vol. ii. pp. 351—353.
THE HOLY LAND, 87
so great an expense both of labour and treasure, that
we may well suppose it to have been the work of kings.
You approach to it at the east side, through an en-
trance cut out of the natural rock, which admits you
into an open court of about forty paces square, cut
down into the rock, with which it is encompassed
instead of walls. On the south side of the court is
a portico, nine paces long and four broad, hewn like-
wise out of the natural rock. This" is a kind of
architrave running along its front, adorned with
sculpture of fruits and flowers, still discernible, but by
time much defaced. At the end of the portico, on the
left hand, you descend to the passage into the sepul-
chres. The door is now so obstructed with stones and
rubbish, that it is a thing of some difficulty to creep
through it ; but within, you arrive in a large fair
room, about seven or eight yards square, cut out
of the natural rock. Its sides and ceiling are so ex-
actly square, and its angles so just, that no architect
with levels and plummets could build a room more
regular ; and the whole is so firm and entire, that
it may be called a chamber hollowed out of one piece
of marble. From this room you pass into (I think)
six more, one within another, all of the same fabric
with the first. Of these, the two innermost are deeper
than the rest, having a second descent of about six or
seven steps into them.
“In every one of these rooms, except the first, were
coffins of stone placed in niches in the sides of the
chambers. They had been at first covered with
handsome lids, and carved with garlands ; but now
most of them were broken to pieces by sacrilegious
hands. The sides and ceiling of the rooms were always
dropping, with the moist damps condensing upon
88 PALESTINE ; OR,
them. To remedy which nuisance, and to preserve
these chambers of the dead polite and clean, there was
in each room a small channel cut in the floor, which
served to drain the drops that fall constantly into it.
“But the most surprising thing belonging to these
subterraneous chambers was their doors, of which
there is only one that remains hanging, being left as it
Were on purpose to puzzle the beholders. It consisted
of a plank of"stone of about six inches in thickness,
and in its other dimensions equalling the size of an
ordinary door, or somewhat less. It was carved in
such a manner as to resemble a piece of wainscot; the
stone of which it was made, was visibly of the same
kind with the whole rock; and it turned upon two
hinges in the nature of axles. These hinges were of
the same entire piece of stone with the door; and
were contained in two holes of the immoveable rock,
one at the top, the other at the bottom.
“ From this description it is obvious to start a
question, how such doors as these were made whether
they were cut out of the rock, in the same place and
manner as they now hang 2 or whether they were
brought, and fixed in their station like other doors 2
One of these must be supposed to have been done ;
and whichsoever part we choose as most probable, it
seems at first glance not to be without its difficulty.
But thus much I have to say for the resolving of this
riddle (which is wont to create no small dispute
amongst pilgrims), viz. that the door which was left
hanging, did not touch its lintel by at least two inches;
so that I believe it might easily have been lifted up
and unhinged. And the doors which had been thrown
down, had their hinges at the upper end twice as
long as those at the bottom; which seems to intimate
*.
THE HOLY LAND. 89
pretty plainly by what method this work was accom-
plished.
“From these sepulchres we returned towards the city
again, and just by Herod's gate were shewn a grotto full
of filthy water and mire. This passes for the dungeon
in which Jeremiah was kept by Zedekiah, till enlarged
by the charity of Ebed Melech, Jer. xxxviii.”
Dr. Clarke's description will supply the best com-
mentary on Maundrell's honest but homely account.
He describes these sepulchres as a series of subter-
ranean chambers, forming a sort of labyrinth, resem-
bling the still more wonderful example lying westward
of Alexandria in Egypt, by some called the sepulchres
of the Ptolemies. “Each chamber,” he says, “ con-
tains a certain number of receptacles for dead bodies,
not being much larger than our coffins, but having the
more regular form of oblong parallelograms ; thereby
differing from the usual appearance presented in the
sepulchral crypts of this country, where the soros,
although of the same form, is generally of very con-
siderable size, and resembles a large cistern. The
taste manifested in the interior of these chambers seems
also to denote a later period in the history of the arts :
the skill and neatness visible in the carving is admir-
able, and there is much of ornament displayed in
several parts of the work.” We observed also some
slabs of marble exquisitely sculptured : these we had
* This agrees with Dr. Richardson's brief but more specific
description, which the reader may compare with the above.
“The road down to them (the tombs of the kings) is cut in the
rock, and the entrance is by a large door also cut in the rock. It
leads into a deep excavation, open above, about fifty feet long,
forty feet wide, and about twenty feet deep. Heaps of sand and
earth are piled up along the sides, and the whole has much the
appearance of a sand-pit. The west end secums to have been orna-
*
90 PALESTINE; OR,
never seen ºn the burial-places before mentioned.
The entrance is by an open court, excavated in a stra-
tum of white limestone, like a quarry. It is a square
of thirty yards. Upon the western site of this area
appears the mouth of a cavern, twelve yards wide,
exhibiting over the entrance an architrave with a
beautifully sculptured frieze. Entering this cavern,
and turning to the left, a second architrave appears
above the entrance to another cavern, but so near to
the floor of the cave as barely to admit the passage of
a man's body through the aperture. We lighted some
wax tapers, and here descended into the first cham-
ber. In the sides of it were other square openings,
like door-frames, offering passages to yet inferior
chambers. In one of these we found the lid of a white
marble coffin (engraved in Le Bruyn's Travels, 1725);
this was entirely covered with the richest and most
beautiful sculpture; but, like all the other sculptured
work about the place, it represented nothing of the
human figure, nor of any animal, but consisted en-
tirely of foliage and flowers, and principally of the
leaves and branches of the vine.
“As to the history of this most princely place of
burial, we shall find it difficult to obtain much infor-
mation. That it was not what its name implies, is
mented with the greatest care. A cormice, with triglyph, regulus,
and guttae, passes along the top, and the vine-leaf mantles round
the decorations. In the south-west corner, a low, harrow door
leads into a series of chambers, in each of which there is a number
of excavations, cut in the rock, for the reception of the dead, like
those which we saw in Malta and Syracuse, all of which are now
empty, and the place is damp and disagreeable. The innermost
apartment is adorned above all the rest, and has the mantling vine,
with clusters of grapes, twined round the pilasters, and inscribed Or,
the sarcophagi.”
THE HOLY LAND. 91
very evident, because the sepulchres of the kings of
Judah were in Mount Zion. The most probable
opinion is maintained by Pococke, who considered
it as the sepulchre of Helen, queen of Adiabene. De
Chateaubriand has since adopted Pococke’s opinion.*
Indeed it seems evident, that, by the royal caves,
nothing more is intended by Josephus than the regal
sepulchre. of Helena he had before mentioned, thus
repeated under a different appellation.” +
There can be little doubt that this royal cemetery
was without the walls of the ancient city, but at no
great distance; so that Jerusalem must formerly have
extended towards the north, nearly a mile beyond the
modern town. With this agrees the description given
by Josephus of the fourth quarter of the city. “ For,
as the city grew more populous, it gradually crept
beyond its own limits, and those parts of it that stood
northward of the Temple, and joined that hill to the
city, made it considerably larger ; and caused that hill
which is in number the fourth, and is called Bezetha,
to be inhabited also. It lies over against the Tower
of Antonia, but is divided from it by a deep valley or
ditch, which was dug on purpose.” It Taking in, then,
the site of the new town, or Caenopolis, as Bezetha
* This is not quite correct. Chateaubriand mentions the opi-
nion as a plausible conjecture; but afterwards urges the text of
Josephus, cited above, as an objection; and, from another passage
in the Jewish historian, supposes the caverns to have been the
sepulchre of Herod the Tetrarch. “Speaking of the wall which
Titus erected to press Jerusalem still more closely than before, he
says, that this wall, returning towards the north, enclosed the
sepulchre of Herod. Now this is the situation of the royal caverns.”
—Travels, vol. ii. p. 108.
i See mote at p. 83.
# He informs us, that it was not till the reign of Claudius that
this quarter began to be enclosed within the walls; but it must have
been inhabited long before as a suburb.
92 PALESTINE ; OR,
was also called, and that part of Mount Sion which is
now without the walls, we shall obtain an area cor-
responding to the account given us by historians of
the extent of the ancient city. Josephus states its
circumference to have been thirty-three furlongs, or
little more than four miles ; that is, nearly twice that
of the modern town.
Mount Moriah, on which the Temple stood, was
originally an irregular hill, separate from Mount Zion
and Acra, as well as from Bezetha. In order to ex-
tend the appendages of the Temple over an equal sur-
face, and to increase the area of the summit, it became
necessary to support the sides, which formed a square,
by immense works. The east side bordered the valley
of Jehoshaphat, which was very deep. The south
side, overlooking a very low spot, was faced from
top to bottom with a strong wall; and Josephus assigns
an elevation of not less than 300 cubits (or 450 feet)
to this part of the Temple; so that it was necessary,
in order to a communication with Mount Zion, to
erect a bridge across the valley. The west side
looked towards Acra; the appearance of which, from
the Temple, is compared to a semicircle, or amphi-
theatre. On the north side, an artificial ditch sepa-
rated the Temple from Bezetha. The Tower of
Antonia flanked the north-east corner of the Temple.
It was built on the rock by Hircanus the First, but
was afterwards strengthened and embellished by Herod
the Great, who named it after his benefactor, Mark
Antony. That execrable but magnificent monarch
is stated by Josephus to have rebuilt the second
Temple." According to Josephus, eleven thousand
* There is reason to suppose that the second Temple was not
pulled down, but that Herod repaired it, and added considerably
to its extent.
THE HOLY LAND. 93
labourers were employed on it for nine years; the
works were prodigious, and were not completed till
after Herod's death. To these “ buildings of the
Temple,” which were probably at the time being
carried on, the disciples pointed the attention of our
Lord, when he said to them in reply: “See ye not
all these things P. Verily, I say unto you, there shall
not be left here one stone upon another that shall not
be thrown down.”" This prediction was literally
fulfilled. When the Romans took Jerusalem, Titus
ordered his soldiers to dig up the foundations both of
the city and the Temple ; and Terentius Rufus, the
Roman general, is stated to have driven a plough-share
over the site of the sacred edifice. When the caliph
Omar took Jerusalem, the spot had been abandoned
by the Christians. Seid Eben Batrik, an Arabian
historian, relates, that the caliph applied to the pa-
triarch Sophronius, and inquired of him, what would
be the most proper place at Jerusalem for building a
mosque. Sophronius conducted him to the ruins of
Solomon’s Temple. The caliph Abd-el-Malek made
additions to the buildings, and enclosed the rock with
walls. His successor, the caliph El Oulid, contributed
still more to the embellishment of El Sakhara, and
covered it with a dome of copper, gilt, taken from a
church at Balbec. The Crusaders converted this temple
of Mahommed into a Christian sanctuary, but Saladin
restored it to its original use.-F
THE MOSQUE OF OMAR
SUCH is briefly the history of this splendid monu-
ment of Saracenic magnificence, which the especial
good fortune of Dr. Richardson, in being allowed to
* Matt. xxiv. 2, f Chateaubriand, vol. ii. p. 113.
.*
94 PALESTINE ; OR,
enter the sacred enclosure, has enabled him to de-
scribe. Laying aside his white burnouse, that he
might not be detected to be a Christian by his colours,
he put on a black abba of the Capo Verde's, and,
escorted by a black interpreter, ascended the southern
slope of Mount Moriah, passed the house of the cadi,
and entered the Haram Schereeff. “ This,” con-
tinues the doctor, “is the name which is given to the
whole space enclosed about the mosque, and is inter-
preted to mean the grand or noble retirement for
devotion. Proceeding forward a few yards, we as-
cended a flight of steps, and got upon the Stoa Sak-
hara, an elevated platform, floored with marble all
round the mosque ; from the door of which we were
now distant but a few paces. On our arrival at the
door, a gentle knock brought up the sacristan, who,
apprized of our arrival, was waiting within to receive
us. He demanded, rather sternly, who we were ; and
was answered by my black conductor in tones not less
consequential than his own. The door immediately
edged up, to prevent, as much as possible, the light
from shining out, and we squeezed ourselves in with a
light and noiseless step, although there was no person
near who could be alarmed by the loudest sound of
our bare feet upon the marble floor. The door was
no sooner shut than the sacristan, taking a couple of
candles in his hand, shewed us all over the interior
of this building ; pointing, in the pride of his heart, to
the elegant marble walls, the beautifully-gilded ceiling,
...the well at which the true worshippers drink and
wash, with which we also blessed our palates and
moistened our beards, the paltry reading-desk, with
the ancient Koran, the handsome columns, and the
green stone, with the wonderful nails. As soon as
we had completed this circuit, pulling a key from his
THE HOLY LAND, 95
girdle, he unlocked the door of the railing which
separates the outer from the inner part of the mosque,
which, with an elevation of two or three steps, led us
into the sacred recess. Here he pointed out the
patches of mosaic in the floor, and the round flat stone
which the prophet carried on his arm in battle ; di-
rected us to introduce our hand through the hole
in the wooden box to feel the print of the prophet’s
foot, and through the posts of the wooden rail to
feel as well as to see the marks of the angel Gabriel’s
fingers, into which I carefully put my own, in the
sacred stone that occupies the centre of the mosque,
and from which it derives the name of Sakhara,
or locked up ; (over it is suspended a fine cloth of
green and red satin, but this was so covered with
dust, that, but for the information of my guide, I
should not have been able to tell the composing
colours;) and, finally, he pointed to the door that
leads into the small cavern below, of which he had not
the key. I looked up to the interior of the dome;
but there being few lamps burning, the light was not
sufficient to shew me any of its beauty, further than
a general glance. The columns and curiosities were
counted over again and again, the arches were spe-
cially examined and enumerated, to be sure that I
had not missed or forgotten any of them. Writing
would have been an ungracious behaviour, calculated
to excite a thousand suspicions, that next day would
have gone to swell the general current of the city
gossip, to the prejudice both of myself and my friend.
Having examined the adytum, we once more touched
the footstep of the prophet, and the finger-prints of
the angel Gabriel, and descended the steps, over which
the door was immediately secured. We viewed a
second time the interior of the building, drank of the
96 PALESTINE ; or,
well, counted the remaining nails in the green stone,
as well as the empty holes ; then, having put a dollar
into the hands of the sacristan, which he grasped very
hard with his fist while he obstinately refused it with
his tongue, we hied us out at the gate of Paradise,
Bab el Jenné, and, having made the exterior circuit of
the mosque, we passed by the judgment-seat of Solo-
mon, and descended from the Stoa Sakhara by another
flight of steps into the outer field of this elegant
enclosure. Here we pât on our shoes, and turning to
the left, walked through the trees, that were but
thinly scattered in the smooth grassy turf, to a house
that adjoins the wall of the enclosure, which in this
place is also the wall of the city, and which is said
to contain the throne of King Solomon. Here there
was no admittance ; and from this we proceeded to
a stair which led up to the top of the wall, and sat
down upon the stone on which Mahomet is to sit
at the Day of Judgement, to judge the re-imbodied
spirits assembled beneath him in the valley of Jehosha-
phat. Descending from this seat of tremendous anti-
cipation, which, if Mahomet were made of flesh and
blood, would be as trying to him as his countenance
would be alarming to the re-imbodied spirits, we
walked along the front of El Aksa, the other mosque,
which occupies the side, as the Sakhara does the
centre, of the enclosure, and arrived at another
fountain, where we again washed our beards and
tasted the water. We had scarcely advanced half
a dozen steps from the cooling wave, when a voice
from the window of the cadi’s house, as it appeared to
me, called out, Who goes there 2 Had I been alone,
and so challenged, I should have been puzzled for
an answer, for my tongue would instantly have be-
trayed me, had I been inclined to counterfeit ; but
THE HOLY LANI). 97
my sable attendant replied, in a tone of surly and
fearless confidence, “ Men, and be d–d to you !
what's your business 2' The call was from some
one of the santones of the mosque, of which Omar
Effendi is the head ; and hearing the well-known voice
of his myrmidon, the challenger slunk into his cell,
and we continued our walk, without further inter-
ruption, round to the house of the governor, where,
having made the circuit of the Haram Schereeff, we
retraced our steps, passed out by the gate at which
we entered, and regained the house of Omar Effendi.
Here I laid aside the black abba, resumed my white
burnouse, and walked into the room as gravely as if
nothing had happened. The noble Turk, participating
in my joy, received me with a smiling countenance,
made me sit down by his side, and inquired if I had
seen the Sakhara. I rejoined in the affirmative ; and
perceiving that the cause of my absence was no secret
to those who were now assembled around him, I ex-
pressed my high admiration of its beauty, and my
sincere thanks to him for having permitted me the .
envied gratification of seeing what had been refused to
the whole Christian world, during the long period of
its appropriation to the religion of the prophet, with
the exception of De Hayes, the ambassador of Louis
the Thirteenth, who did not avail himself of the per-
IºllSS1Oll.
“ He next proceeded to examine me in detail on
the different places that I had seen ; and when his
queries were exhausted, I begged of him to explain to
me certain terms used by my guide, which I did not
fully comprehend, and afterwards to explain to me
the interior of the dome. He regretted that the want
of light had prevented me from seeing it, and was pro-
ceeding to supply the defect by a verbal description,
PART I. G.
98 PALESTINE ; OR,
when his brother, who was sitting on the other side of
the divan, called out, “Why don't you go in during
the day ?” The question electrified me with joy; but
considering it perhaps as a little rash, I looked at the
Capo Verde before making any reply, when he speedily
removed all doubt respecting his brother's prudence,
by converting the query into the imperative sanction
of ‘Yes, go in during the day.” This was no sooner
said than cordially accepted, and his brother and
cousin, each moving his two fore-fingers in a parallel
direction, said “Sava, Sava, we shall go in together as
a token of friendship and respect.” Several other Turks
did the same ; for in these countries the friendship of
the principal person always ensures the officious and
often troublesome attention of his inferiors and de-
pendents.
“Next day, having previously provided myself with
a pencil, which a friend was kind enough to lend me,
I returned at noon to the house of the Capo Verde,
which was the time and place fixed for our rendezvous,
and immediately, in company with four well-dressed,
long-bearded Turks, repaired to the Haram Schereeff,
which we entered by the same gate as I had done the
evening before. -
“This sacred enclosure is the sunny spot of Moslem
devotion. There is no sod like that which covers the
ample area of its contents, and no mosque at all com-
parable to the Sakhara. Here the god of day pours
his choicest rays in a flood of light, that streaming all
round upon the marble pavement, mingles its softened
tints in the verdant turf, and leaves nothing to com-
pare with or desire beyond. It seems as if the glory
of the Temple still dwelt upon the mosque, and the
glory of Solomon still covered the site of his temple.
On the same spot and under the same sun the
THE HOLY LAND. 99
memory conjures up a thousand delightful remem-
brances, and contemplates in review the glorious house,
the dedication and prayer of the wisest of kings,
spreading forth his hands in the midst of his people,
the fire descending upon the burnt-offering and the
sacrifice, and the glory of the Lord filling the house;
with the people bowing down with their faces to the
pavement, and worshipping and praising the Lord,
“for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever.” The
spectator forgets that it is a house of foreign devotion,
and feels as if, in the radiant opalescence of its light,
an inviting ray was sent forth to the heart of every
returning Israelite to this ancient centre of prayer.
There is no reflected light like the light from the
Sakhara: like the glorious sun itself, it stands alone in
the world, and there is but one spot on earth, where
all things typical were done away, that sinks a deeper
interest into the heart of the Christian.
“The dimensions of this noble enclosure, as fur-
nished me by the cousin of Omar Effendi, are, in
length, six hundred and sixty peeks of Constantinople,
that is, about one thousand four hundred and eighty-
nine feet, measuring from the arch of prayer in El
Aksa to the Bab el Salam, or gate of peace, which
is the name of the gate on the opposite end. In
breadth it is four hundred and forty peeks, or nine
hundred and ninety-five feet, measuring from Allah
dien to the gate Beseri on the west.
“This spacious square is enclosed on the east and
on the south by the wall of the city; through which
there is only one gate, and that leads into El Aksa on
the south. There were formerly two gates on the
east side, and the gate of Tobet, Bab el Tobe, both of
which are now built up. The other two sides of the
º
* i * , f
4 .
, i.
t
* * * * a
Tº A s
1 OO PALESTINE ; OR,
square are in the town. The west side is enclosed
by a line of Turkish houses, and is entered by five
gates ; the north side is enclosed partly by a wall, and
partly by Turkish houses, and is entered by three
gates. Having passed in by either of these gates, the
visitor enters what may be called the outer court
of the Haram Schereeff, which is a fine smooth, level
space all round the Stoa Sakhara, falling with a gentle
slope towards the east, and covered with a thick sward
of grass, with orange, olive, cypress, and other trees
scattered over it in different places, but no where
forming a thicket.
“In the sacred retirement of this charming spot,
the followers of the prophet delight to saunter or
repose as in the Elysium of their devotion, and arrayed
in the gorgeous costume of the East, add much to
the beauty, the interest, and solemn stillness of the
scene, which they seem loth to quit either in going to
or coming from the house of prayer. In the midst of
this court, but nearer to the west and south sides,
there is an elevated platform, which is about four
hundred and fifty feet square, and is called Stoa Sak-
hara ; some parts of it are higher than others, as the
ground on which it is erected is more or less elevated,
but it may be said to average about twelve or fourteen
feet above the level of the grassy court. It is acces-
sible on all sides by a number of spacious stairs, that
appear to have answered originally to exterior gates of
entrance into the Haram Schereeff. There are three
on the west side, two on the north, one on the east
side, and two on the south : that on the east fronts
the obstructed golden gate ; it is more worn than any
of the rest, and much in want of repair. These stairs
are all surmounted at the top with lofty arches; some
- - * * º Us
2 . . o o' * -
THE HOLY LAND. ! O !
of them have four arches, so that one stair leads to
four entrances into the Stoa Sakhara, and has a most
magnificent and triumphal appearance.
“The platform, or Stoa Sakhara, is paved with fine
polished marble, chiefly white, with a shade of blue ;
some of the stones look very old, are curiously wrought
and carved, and have evidently belonged to a former
building. There are no trees on the Stoa Sakhara,
but there are tufts of grass in many places, from the
careless manner in which it is kept, which afford great
relief to the eye from the intense glare of light and
heat reflected from the marble pavement. Round
the edge of the Stoa Sakhara, there are numbers of
small houses ; five of which on the north side are
occupied by santones or religious ascetics ; one on
the south is for the doctors of the law to hold their
consultations in ; one on the west for containing the
oil for painting the brick and tile for the repair of the
Sakhara; the rest are places of private prayer for the
different sects of Mussulmans or believers, which is
the meaning of the word.
“But the great beauty of the platform, as well as
of the whole enclosure, is the Sakhara itself, which
is nearly in the middle of the platform, and but a
little removed from the south side ; it is a regular
octagon of about sixty feet a side, and is entered by
four spacious doors. Bab el Garbi on the west ; Bab
el Shergy, or Bab Nebbe Daoud, or gate of the prophet
David on the east; Bab el Kabla, or gate towards
which the Mussulman turns his face in prayer, on the
south ; and Bab el Jenné, or gate of the garden, on
the north. Each of these doors is adorned with a
porch, which projects from the line of the building,
and rises considerably up on the wall. The lower
G 2 - , , . " ", sº
* ~ .
t
102 PALESTINE ; OR,
story of the Sakhara is faced with marble, the blocks
of which are of different sizes, and many of them
evidently resting on the side or narrowest surface.
They look much older on a close inspection than they
do when viewed from a distance, and their disintegra-
tion indicates a much greater age than the stones
of the houses, said to have been built in the time
of the mother of Constantine the Great ; and pro-
bably both they and the aged stones in the flooring on
the Stoa Sakhara, formed part of the splendid temple
that was destroyed by the Romans. Each side of
the Sakhara is pannelled ; the centre stone of one
pannel is square, of another it is octagonal, and thus
they alternate all round: the sides of each pannel
run down the angles of the building like a plain
pilaster, and give the appearance as if the whole side
of the edifice was set in a frame. The marble is
white with a considerable tinge of blue, and square
pieces of blue marble are introduced in different places,
sq as to give the whole a pleasing effect. There are
mo windows in the marble part or lower story of the
building. The upper story of this elegant building
is faced with small tiles of about eight or nine inches
square; they are painted of different colours, white,
yellow, green, and blue, but blue prevails throughout.
They are covered with sentences from the Koran ;
though of this fact I could not be certain, on account
of the height, and my imperfect knowledge of the
character: there are seven well-proportioned windows
on each side, except where the porch rises high, and
then there are only six, one of which is generally
built up, so that only five are effective. The whole
is extremely light and beautiful; and from the mixture
of the soft colours above, and the pannelled work and
tº º
& o e
• * * , • ?: • * * * *
* * * * • * * * * *
& o
º gº º * - e. * te
THE HOLY LAND. 1 Q3
blue and white tinge of the marble below, the eye is
more delighted with beholding it than any building I
€Vel' SaW.
“The admiration excited by the appearance of the
exterior was not diminished by a view of the interior,
the arrangements of which are so managed as to
preserve throughout the octagonal form, agreeably to
the ground plan of the building. The inside of the
wall is white, without any ornament ; and I confess
I am one of those who think ornaments misplaced in
a house of prayer, or any thing tending to distract the
mind when it comes there to hold converse with its
God. The floor is of grey marble, and was then much
covered with dust, from some repairs that were exe-
cuting on the dome.
** A little within the door of the Bab el Jenné.
or west door, there is a flat polished slab of green
marble, which forms part of the floor. It is about
fourteen inches square, and was originally pierced
by eighteen nails, which would have kept their place,
but for the amazing chronometrical virtues with which
they were endowed. For such is their magical temper,
that they either hold or quit, according to the times;
and on the winding up of each great and cardinal
event, a nail has regularly been removed to mark its
completion ; and so many of these signal periods have
already rolled by, each clenched by an accompanying
nail, that now only three and a half remain, fourteen
and a half having been displaced in a supernatural
manner. I was anxious to learn what great event
had drawn the first nail, the second, the third, and
so onward in succession ; whether they had taken
their departure one at a time, or had fled in divided
portions, as seems to be the fashion now ; or whether
the sly disappearance of half a nail marked the silent
104 PALESTINE ; OR,
course of time in the accomplishment of half an event,
as that of a whole mail indicated the consummation of
one whole event But on all these important points I
could learn nothing; neither could any one inform me
when the last half mail took its flight, nor when the
other half was expected to follow. It is an equally
recondite matter, known only to the wise in wonders,
how the nails got into the stone, as how they get
out of it. Thus much, however, the hierophants
vouchsaſed to communicate, that, when all the nails
shall have made their escape, all the events con-
tained in the great map of time will then have been
unfolded, and that there will then be an end of the
world, or nothing but a dull monotonous succession till
the final consummation of all things. My conductor
also gravely informed me, that underneath this stone,
Solomon, the son of David, lies buried. All of which
solemn nonsense it was proper for me to hear, with-
out appearing to doubt either the information, or the
source from which it came.
“The well at the inside of the Bab el Garbé, the
reading-desk, and the ancient copy of the Koran,
have been already mentioned ; to which I may add
the awkward narrow wooden staircase that leads to
the top of the building: and these comprise all the
objects worthy of notice that occur between the wall
and the first row of columns within the Sakhara.
“There are twenty-four columns in the first row,
placed parallel with the eight sides of the building,
three opposite to each side, so as still to preserve the.
octagonal form. They are all of the same kind of
marble, but rather of a darker hue than that on the
exterior of the building. Eight of them are large
square plain columns, of no order of architecture, and
all placed opposite to the eight entering angles of
THE HOLY LAND. 105
the edifice; they are indented on the inner side, so
that they furnish an acute termination to the octa-
gonal lines within. Between every two of the square
columns there are two round columns, well propor-
tioned, and resting on a base. They are from eighteen
to twenty feet high, with a sort of Corinthian capital.
I did not remark that it was gilt, which, had it been
the case, I think I must have done, having specially
noted that the leaf is raised, and turned over, but
that I did not consider it the true leaf of the Corin-
thian capital. A large square plinth of marble ex-
tends from the top of the one column to the other, and
above it there are constructed a number of arches all
round. The abutments of two separate arches rest
upon the plinths above the capital of each column, so
that there are three arches opposed to each side of
the building, making twenty-four in the row of co-
lumns. The arches are slightly pointed, and support
the inner end of the roof, or ceiling, which is of wood
plastered, and ornamented in compartments of the
octagonal form, and highly gilt ; the outer end of the
roof rests upon the walls of the building. The inter-
columnal space is vacant. Not so in the inner circle
of columns, to which we now proceed. They are
about two paces from the outer row, and are only
sixteen in number. There are four large square
columns, one opposed to each alternate angle of the
building, and three small round columns between each
of them. Their base rests upon an elevation of the
floor, and they are capitalled and surmounted with
arches, the same as in the outer row : this inner row
of columns supports the dome. The intercolumnal
space is occupied by a high iron railing, so that all
entrance to the holy stone, or centrs of the mosque, is
1 O6 PALESTINE ; OR,
completely shut up, except by one door, which is open
only at certain hours for the purposes of devotion.
“ This central compartment is elevated about three
feet above the outer floor, and the ascent to it is by a
flight of four steps. On entering it along with the
Turks, we found there several rather shabbily-dressed
ill-looking people engaged in their devotions. One of
them was a female, of a mean rustic appearance, and
so extremely stupid, that she was praying with her
face to the west ; which so provoked one of my con-
ductors, that he went up and roused her from her
knees, and having given her a hearty scolding, turned
her round and made her pray with her face to the
South, whibh she very obediently did without any
demur. Within this row of columns the floor is also
paved with marble, and the blue and white columns
are so mixed, as in some places to form a sort of mosaic.
Proceeding on to the right, we came to a round flat
stone of polished marble, which is raised high, and
attached to the side of one of the square columns.
This stone, I was informed, the prophet carried on
his arm in battle. It is a ponderous and a very un-
likely shield. It is broken through the middle, pro-
bably from a blow aimed at its master by an infidel
hand. Opposite to this, and on the end of the holy
stone, which I am about to describe, there is a high,
square wooden box, with an opening on one side of it,
large enough to admit the hand to feel the print of
Mahomet’s foot, which he left there, either when he
prayed or when he flew up to heaven. I put in my
hand and touched it, to stroke my face and beard, as
I saw the Mussulmans do. It is so completely covered
that it cannot be seen. -
“But that to which this temple owes both its name
THE HOLY LAND. 107
and existence, is a large irregular oblong mass of stone
that occupies the centre of the mosque. It is a mass
of compact limestone, the same as that of the rock on
which the city stands, and of the other mountains
about Jerusalem ; and if I had not been told that it
is a separate stone, I should have imagined it a part of
the native rock that had been left unremoved, when
the other parts were levelled down for the foundation
of the building. It rises highest towards the south-
west corner, and falls abruptly at the end where are
the prints of the prophet’s foot. It is irregular on the
upper surface, the same as when it was broken from
the quarry. It is enclosed all round with a wooden
railing about four feet high, and which in every place
is nearly in contact with the stone. I have already
mentioned that there is a large cover of variously-
coloured satin suspended above it, and nothing can be
held in greater veneration than the Hadjr el Sakhara,
or the locked-up stone. Under it there is an apart-
ment dug in the solid rock, which is entered by a stair
that opens to the south-east. But into this excavation
I never was admitted, although I was four times
in the mosque, and went there twice with the express
assurance that I should be shown into it. However,
when I arrived, the key was always wanting ; and
when the keeper of it was sought for, he never could
be found. They assured me, however, that it was
very small, and that it contained nothing but robes ;
and Ali Bey, who having professed himself a Mussul-
man, visited this excavation, says, that it is an irregu-
lar square of about eighteen feet in circumference, and
eight feet high in the middle ;-that in the bottom
it contains two marble tablets, one of which is called
the place of David, the other the place of Solomon ;
two niches, the one of which is called the place of
108 PALESTINE ; OR,
Abraham, the other the place of Gabriel; and, lastly,
a stone table, Makam el Hodar, which is rendered by
him the place of Elias; but the name Hodar was
always translated to me St. George, as Maharab el
Hodar, the Arch of St. George ; and though the Mus-
sulmans frequently confound the two, yet, I believe,
they never give Elias the name of Hodar.
“However, this stone has other weighty pretensions
to the veneration of the Mahomedans than the print
of the angel Gabriel’s fingers or the prophet's foot ;
for, like the Palladium of ancient Troy, it fell from
heaven, and lighted on this very spot, at the time that
prophecy commenced in Jerusalem. Here the ancient
prophets sat, and prophesied, and prayed ; and as
long as the spirit of vaticination continued to visit the
holy men in the holy city, the stone remained quiet
for their accommodation ; but when prophecy ceased,
and the persecuted seers girt up their loins and fled,
the stone, out of sympathy, wished to accompany
them ; but the angel Gabriel interposed his friendly
aid, and, grasping the stone with a mighty hand,
arrested its flight, and nailed it to its rocky bed till
the arrival of Mahomet ; who, horsed on the lightning’s
wing, flew thither from Mecca, joined the society of
70,000 ministering angels, and, having offered up his
devotions to the throne of God, fixed the stone im-
moveably in this holy spot, around which the Kalif
Omar erected the present elegant structure.
“Having satisfied ourselves with the interior and
lower part of the mosque, we ascended the narrow and
comfortless wooden stair to the top of it; and in
our ascent, had a full view of the immense wooden
beams that compose the ceiling. The roof of the
mosque is covered with lead, from the wall to the
dome. It slopes gently, so that we walked along
"I"H E HOLY LAN D. 109
it with ease. The walls rise above it about seven feet.
so that no part of the roof is visible from the ground
below. The wall of the dome is round, and the sides
of the perpendicular part of it are faced up with blue,
green, white, and yellow painted tiles, the same as
the upper part of the building. Blue is the prevailing
colour. It is divided into alternate compartments
of close and reticulated work ; and is covered in at
the top with lead, the same as the roof of the building.
It was then undergoing repair. The workmen were
taking out the old bricks, which were much decayed,
and introducing new ones, which were painted after
a different patterm ; but all of us thought that the
old work was better, and the patterns handsomer than
the new. The scaffolding erected for these repairs so
obstructed the admission of light into the interior of
the dome, that I never had a satisfactory view of it.
From what I saw, it exhibited a ſaint, but elegant
display of various colours ; and I was informed that it
was excessively brilliant, and was ornamented with
different kinds of precious stones. The height of the
done is about ninety feet, and the diameter about
forty feet. From the roof of the mosque there is a
delightful view of the city and scenery about Jeru-
salem, in the contemplation of which we remained
about an hour. -
“Leaving the Sakhara, we proceeded to the Mosque
el Aksa, the name given to the other house of devo-
tion contained within this sacred enclosure ; though
a very fine and elegant mosque in the interior, it
is greatly inferior to it, both in beauty and sanctity.
It is also called the Mosque of the Women, because it
contains a separate place assigned them for prayer ;
and Djamai Omar, or Mosque of the Kalif Omar, who
used to pray in it. The place in which he performed
PART I. H *
1 10 PALESTINE ; OR,
his devotions is still exhibited. This was anciently a
church, and in the Christian days of the Holy City
was called the Church of the Presentation, meaning
thereby, of the infant Jesus; or of the Purification,
meaning thereby, of the Virgin Mary. A narrow
aisle on the right, off the body of the church, is shewn
as the place where she presented her son in the
temple. The mosque is in the form of a long square,
and would answer very well for a Christian church at
present, were it not for the superabundance of columns
in the anterior, which assimilate it more to an Egyp-
tian temple.
“The Mosque el Aksa lies to the south of the
Sakhara, and close to the southern wall of the
enclosure, which is also the wall of the city. It is
nearly opposite to the Kob el Kebla, which is by far
the finest door of the Sakhara. Between the two
there is a beautiful fountain, called the orange foun-
tain, from a clump of orange trees which grow near
it. It has seven arches in front, which are slightly
pointed ; and three square abutments, which support
the front of the building, look like so many square
columns. These arches cover a piazza, which affords
an agreeable walk all along the front of the building.
The door of entrance is in the centre, and opens into
the middle aisle of the mosque, which is remarkably
clean and spacious, and covered with mats. The
ceiling is flat, and supported by three rows of columns
on each hand. The two middle rows are round, the
others are square, and all are surmounted by arches,
as in the Sakhara, and coarsely finished. Elegance
is not the boast of this house of Moslem devotion.
Three large lamps suspended from the ceiling, with
three burners in each, served to light it up during
the night. The apartment for the females is enclosed
TF1E, HOLY LAND. 1 1 l
on the left. A the further end of the aisle, fronting
the door, there is a large pulpit, which is highly
ornamented with pieces of variegated marble, as if it
had formed part of a Christian altar, and adorned with
two marble columns on each side, and arched over the
top like an arcade. Standing immediately in front
of this, we are directly under the Kob el Aksa, or
dome of El Aksa, which is supported by four large
columns, surmounted by arches, as in the Sakhara.
The dome is painted of different colours, and lighted
by windows in the side. The glass in these windows
is also painted blue, yellow, red, and green. The
light admitted through such a medium is softened and
delightful, and calculated to inspire sentiments suited
to a place of worship. To the right, near the pulpit,
there is a small place enclosed with a wooden rail,
and covered with green cushions, for the cadi. Near
to this there is a separate place for the singers.
Up a narrow stone stair, I was shewn a small room
appropriated to the devotions of the Sultan ; but the
state of disrepair in which it then was, shews that the
sublime potentate, or his representative, seldom visits
this place of prayer. On the left, in a direct line from
the pulpit, there is a long uncomfortable vault, in
which the Kalif Omar used to pray. Between this
and the apartment built off for the females, in a
recess formed by building up the space between two
of the columns, there is a niche in the wall at which
the Mussulmans pray, called the door of mercy. We
have now completed the examination of the interior of
the Mosque el Aksa ; and here my guide kneeling
down, performed his devotions, having requested me
to stand beside him till he had done, when we im-
mediately sallied out of the mosque, and entered into
some of the contiguous small houses, where the work-
X 12 PALESTINE ; OR,
men were engaged in mixing the line, and preparing
the plaster for the repair of the Sakhara. Though I
was escorted by some of the principal Turks of the
Holy City, yet I easily perceived their anxiety that
I should be as little observed as possible; and although
some of the Moslems whom I met condescended to
salute me in a friendly manner, yet others looked
perfectly savage, and one of them even remonstrated
with the chamberlain of Omar Effendi for bringing
me there. &
“Here I would beg leave to remark, that if this
mosque, El Aksa, be built on the site of Solomon's
temple, the Sakhara cannot occupy the site of the
Holy of Holies; for the two are at a greater distance
from each other than the whole length of Solomon's
temple, which was only ninety feet. The door of
mercy probably occupies the place of the mercy-seat;
and the two large granite columns were probably ex-
hibited in the days of its Romanism, as the successors
of the two brazen pillars, Jachin and Boaz, that orna-
mented the porch of the temple of Solomon.
“From El Aksa we proceeded to the south-east
corner of the enclosure ; where the keeper having
unlocked the door, we descended a flight of steps, and
came into a small square chamber, which is called the
grotto of Sidn Aisa, or grotto of the Lord Jesus. It
contains the Sereer Sidn Aisa, the bed or tomb of the
Lord Jesus, which is in the form of a sarcophagus,
with a small round pillar erected on each angle,
supporting a canopy above. The pillars are jagged or
fretted both at top and bottom, and plain and polished
in the middle. The bed or sarcophagus is of the
common compact limestone of the country. It could
never have been a bath, for it is not capacious enough
to hold an adequate depth of water, and it is cut
TH E HOLY LAN D. ! ! 3
and formed exactly in the same manner as the exca-
vations for the reception of the bodies in what are
called the tombs of the kings of Judah. The columns
are of variegated marble, and are apparently of Roman
workmanship, and seem to have been erected with the
view of supporting a curtain to be drawn or withdrawn
according as the object which it covered was to be
seen or concealed. Why is this square chamber called
the grotto of the Lord Jesus? and why is this stone
trough called the bed of the Lord Jesus 2 These
queries shall afterwards be considered. In the same
chaniber there were three other stone troughs of a
similar description, but without any columns, which
were severally denominated the beds of Mary, of John,
and of Zacharias ; the mother, the forerunner, and
the father of the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ:
the three persons most particularly indicated in the
New Testament as connected with the appearance of
the Messiah. And when we consider that Jerusalem,
in the early ages of Christianity, was entirely a
Christian city, perhaps we do not go too far in stating,
that this grotto and these stone troughs were once
exhibited by the religious hierophants, as the Holy
Sepulchre, and the others as the tombs of the different
individuals whose names they bear. When the Sara-
cens captured the city, they took the Christian Church
of the Purification, the grotto of Sidn Aisa, retained
the tombs that they found within, and called them by
the names which the Christians had given them, as
the Turks still continue to do.
“From the grotto of Sidn Aisa, we descended
another flight of steps, and came into what is
called the Berca Solymon,-a subterranean colonnade,
raised to support the lower edge of the enclosure
called Harám Schereeff and a small superincumbent
I 14 PALESTINE, OR,
building, appropriated for the devotion of the sect
Hambali. The tops of the columns are surmounted:
by arches, the same as those in the Sakhara and El
Aksa. The columns are about four feet and a half
square, and consist of three stones each ; each stone is
about five feet long, and is bevelled at the ends and at
the corners, so that the joinings form a small niche,
like revealed rustic. The stones have been remark-
"ably well cut; but they are much more disintegrated
than they are likely to have become in the station that
they at present occupy, during the period of eleven
hundred years; and have a much older appearance
than the arches which they support. The style of
cutting and joining the stones that we see in these
columns, is quite different from any other architecture
in Jerusalem, and from any thing that I have ever
seen, except in the foundation-stones in the temple or
castle at Baalbec. The Turks ascribe the erection of
these columns to Solomon, the son of David. We
are informed that the inner court of Solomon’s temple
was built of three rows of hewn stone, and a row
of cedar beams; and the order from Cyrus for rebuild-
ing the temple, mentions three rows of great stones
and a row of new timber. It is not improbable that
these columns are constructed of the stones above
mentioned : the workmanship, in my opinion, is de-
cidedly Jewish. -
“Some of the arches appear to have been giving
way, and are built up by a solid wall passing between
the two columns. The different arches are charac-
terised by different names. One is called the arch of
Aaron, the brother of Moses; another is called the
arch of the Apostles; and a third is called the arch of
St. George. There was a small and apparently acci-
dental opening, as if the earth had dropped through
TH F HOLY LAN D. 1 5
from the harám or outer court of the enclosure. This
they called the private entrance of Solomon, the son
of David ; and between the first row of columns and
the wall on the right, whence I entered the colonnade,
they shewed me a large slab that covers a stone chest,
in which Solomon had shut up the devil, because he
had neglected his orders to bring him his favourite
queen Belgeess, at a time when he was very impatient
to see her. I have told the tale as it was told to me,
and as it is believed by every Mussulman in Jeru-
salem. The Koran sets forth, that sundry devils
were under the command of Solomon, to dive to get
him pearls, and do him other works besides. The
whole of this subterraneous colonnade is called Habsul,
or the hidden ; and when we compare the accumu-
lation of rubbish in other parts of the town with the
depth of the rubbish in the Harám Schereeff, I think
there is little doubt that the columns once were above
ground. They rest upon rock or large coarse stones
regularly laid. The Turks informed me that there
are three thousand such columns under El Aksa. I
saw the stair that leads down to them, but we did not
enter; the key could not be found, as was the case
when we wanted to enter the grotto under the
Sakhara.
“Leaving the colonnade, we ascended the steps,
passed through the grotto of Sidn Aisa, regained the
open air, and proceeded along the side of the eastern
wall of the Harám Schereeff to the house which
contains the Coursi Solymon, or throne of Solomon :
but still there was no key ; and in looking at the
window, I merely saw the five brass knobs that
adorned the arms and top of the chair, looking through
the curtain of green cloth with which it was covered.
As we passed along to it from the subterraneous
} | 6 PALESTIN F : OR,
colonnade above-mentioned, we sax, il, two places
where the ground had been turned up, several frag-
ments of marble columns; and wherever the sward
was broken, the ground below exhibited a conglo-
meration of rubbish of former buildings that had
anciently adorned this sacred enclosure, now levelled
and smoothed over for its present use.
“There are four sects amongst the Mussulmans
who are accounted orthodox. The first, and at pre-
sent the most respected, is that of the Hanifites, so
named from Father Hanifah, its founder, who was
born at Coufah, on the Euphrates, in the eightieth
year of the Hedjra, and died in prison at Bagdadt in
the seventieth year of his age. The Turks and Tar-
tars, the Sultans, kings, and judges, are of this sect.
. The last-mentioned hold public discussions, deliver
public orations, and are called the followers of reason.
If a person be liable to any sudden discharge of blood,
and it should surprise him in the time of his devotions,
by the laws of the sect he must not wait to finish
them, but must immediately retire and wash ; and
when the hemorrhage is stopped, may return and con-
clude his prayers. If, however, he change his sect,
which he may do to that of Shafei, he may continue
his devotions notwithstanding the presence of his
infirmity. Military or naval commanders are never
of this sect. The elegant mosque of the Sakhara
belongs to it, and is exclusively their appropriate
place of prayer, though those of other sects occa-
sionally frequent it.
** The second orthodox sect of Mussulmans is that
of Malek, who was born in Medina about the mine-
tieth year of the Hedjra, and died there in the one
hundred and seventy-eighth year of the same epoch.
He is chiefly followed in Egypt, Barbary, and other
THE HOLY LAND. 117
parts of Africa. They have a place of prayer in the
south-west corner of the Harám Schereeff.
“The third orthodox sect is that of Shafei, who was
born at Gaza, or Askelon, in the one hundred and
fiftieth year of the Hedjra, was educated at Mecca,
and died in Egypt in the two hundred and fourth year
of the same epoch. The members of this sect say their
prayers in El Aksa.
“The fourth orthodox sect is that of Hanbal, who
was born in the one hundred and sixty-fourth year of
the Hedjra, and died at Bagdadt in the year two
hundred and forty-one of the same epoch. The place
of prayer belonging to this sect is in the north-east
corner of the Harám Schereeff; but there is none of
them in Jerusalem at present. They are chiefly con-
fined to Mecca, though some of them are still to be
ſound in Nablous and Damascus.
“ Notwithstanding that each of these sects has a
separate place of prayer assigned to it with,in these
holy precincts, yet, on Fridays, which is the Mussul-
man's Sabbath, they all pray together in El Aksa,
and, in the times of their festivals, all pray on the
platform, or Stoa Sakhara. I do not exactly know
the particular points in which these four sects differ
from each other. All are understood to be equally
orthodox expounders of the Koran ; and I believe
the principal differences consist in the degrees of at-
tention that each thinks it necessary to bestow on his
person previously to engaging in the ceremonies of his
religion.”
Father Roger, a monkish traveller, who professes to
have gained admission into the temple by stratagem,
assigns a curious reason for the extreme jealousy mani-
fested by the Turks with regard to any Christians
setting foot within the enclosure. “If a Christian
II 2
1 18 PALESTINE, OR,
were to gain access into the court of the temple, what-
ever prayers he might offer up in this place, according
to the notion of the Turks, God would not fail to
grant, were he even solicited to put Jerusalem into the
hands of the Christians. For this reason, besides the
prohibition issued against Christians, to enter not only
the temple, but even the court, upon pain of being
burned alive, or turning Mahommedans, they kept a
vigilant guard.” + Ali Bey says: “The Mussulman
religion acknowledges but two temples, that of Mecca
and that of Jerusalem : both are named El Haram,
and both are equally prohibited by the law to Chris-
tians, Jews, and every other person who is not a
Mussulman. The mosques in Arabic are named El
Djammāa, or the place of assembly: they are respect-
able places, it is true, but they are not consecrated by
the especial presence of the Divinity. Entrance into
them is not prohibited to infidels by any canonical
precept : the people, however, do not like to see
strangers in them ; nor can the latter enter them
except by virtue of an order from a public authority.
For even at Constantinople, Christians enter the
Mosque of St. Sophia, and the other mosques, when
they are bearers of a firmaun granted by government.
But no Mussulman governor dares permit an infidel
to pass into the territory of Mecca, or into the Temple
of Jerusalem. A permission of this kind would be
looked upon as a horrid sacrilege ; it would not be
respected by the people, and the infidel would become
the victim of his imprudent boldness.”f
Dr. Richardson was indebted purely to his pro-
fessional character for his influence with the Capo
Verde, or Green Turban, the Mahommedan primate
* Ghatcaubriand, vol. ii. p. 118.
# Travels of Ali Bey, vol. ii. p. 215.
TH H HOLY LAN ID. | 19
of Jerusalem ; and no other authority than his would
have been sufficient to ensure him either an intro-
duction to the temple, or protection. The character
of the physician is held in such estimation by the
Orientals, as to partake of a sort of ecclesiastical
sanctity. He who is a physician, is pardoned for being
a Christian: religious and national prejudices dis-
appear before him, and even the recesses of harems
are thrown open to him. “ The physician who visits
Jerusalem,” says Dr. Richardson, “may assure hum-
self of a cordial reception, provided he is properly
recommended ; and the best of all recommendations
is that of travelling with a family of distinction.
Both Turks and Arabs and Oriental Christians are
perfect gluttons in physic, and place greater confi-
dence in its wonder-working powers than the more
enlightened people in Europe are disposed to do ; but
they have been so often gulled by pretenders to the
art, that a solitary traveller declaring himself to be of
that profession is looked upon with suspicion, and
must work his way through lengthened files of gos.
sipping quacks and anile competitors, fraught with
legions of nostrums from every country under heaven,
against every ailment with which the human hody can
be assailed, from a scratch of the finger to a scirrhous
ulcer or a pestilential boil. But all their clamours are
silenced by such an introduction ; his prescriptions are
received with unlimited confidence, and applications
for advice are without end. Crowds of invalids,-
the halt, the blind, the lame, and the sick of every
disease, collected from all quarters of the country,
assail him, so that unless he give his whole time up to .
them, he will find it impossible to satisfy their de-
mands. It is the hardest of all refusals for a medical
man at any time to decline giving advice for the
120 PALESTINE ; OR,
health of a fellow-creature, but more especially so in
Jerusalem. The patients seize upon him as if only he
stood between them and death : they fall down before
him on the ground, grasp his legs, kiss his feet, and
supplicate him, for the love of God, to look at them,
and prescribe for their complaints. They rarely pre-
sent him with silver or gold ; but the father, the
mother, the sister, the brother, or some friend or
relation of the patient, stands by with a sheep, a lamb,
or a goat, a chaplet of beads, a carved shell, or some
other portion of his property, to reward him for his
trouble. The soul is touched when the body suffers,
and any thing for health. Whether he is in his
lodgings, walks in the streets, or sits down in the
market-place, the physician is equally beset ; some
needy sufferer finds him out, and comes up under the
wing of some favoured Turk, who prefers an unneces-
sary request in behalf of the invalid: no sooner has
he prescribed for one, than another victim of disease
pathetically assails him ; and thus he is kept in con-
stant employ, and hunted, as if by a dog, both over
town and country. -
“The medical practitioner who travels in these
countries, and wishes to be useful, which it is hoped
every member of the profession does, should take along
with him a set of surgical instruments, particularly
such as are necessary for operations on the eye, and
for laying open fistulous sores; also a chest of medi-
cines well stored with calomel and jalap, bark, the
liquor of ammonia, which, from the debilitated state of
the digestive organs, occasioned by the excessive use
of tobacco, he will find of great service; powders for
making soda-water, and the spirits of nitrous ether; he
will find universally called for ; and a small quantity
of them will be sufficient to secure him the temporary
THE II OLY LAN ID. * | 2 |
friendship of any great man in the country ; he ought
also to take opium along with him, which, strange as
it may appear, I hardly ever found good in those
countries ; and he will find the ointment of the nitrate
of mercury of great service in the eruptive diseases on
which he will often be consulted. Such other medi-
cines as he may have occasion for, he will generally
meet with in the convents or the shops of the country.
If it fall to his lot, as it did to mine, he will have
many eyes to operate upon, and many fistulous sores
to lay open, most of them arising from neglected gun-
shot wounds, which are very frequent in those coun-
tries, where every man who carries a gun may fire it
almost with impunity at any other man who comes in
his way.”
On leaving the Harām Schereeff, our favoured tra-
veller passed out by the gate called Bab el Sette Ma-
riam, which is close by the gate of the city called
St. Stephen's gate ; and, turning to the left, pro-
ceeded along a narrow street, which, in a short time,
brought him to the Serai, or palace of the governor;
an old irregular building, in bad repair, apparently of
Roman architecture, said to occupy the site of Pontius
Pilate's palace. The monks pretend to shew in this
house the very room in which our Lord was kept
in custody. The palace joins the wall of the Harám
Schereeff ; and from the south side of it, there is a
delightful view of the sacred enclosure. A little
onward is the arch called Ecce Homo. The street
between the Serai and the church of the Sepulchre
is the Strada Dolorosa, or mournful way; which the
monkish cicerones of Jerusalem gravely point out as
the way by which our Lord was led to his crucifixion.
It crosses the road leading to the Damascus gate, and
then proceeds up an ascent to what is now called
122 PALESTINE, ok,
Calvary; which is described by Dr. Richardson as by
no means high, but merely a bluff point on the lower ,
slope of the mountain base, as it approaches the edge
of the lower ground on which the centre of the city
stands. To the north and west, the rock rises con-
siderably above it. That is to say, the spot ignorantly.
fixed upon as the site of the crucifixion, so far from
ever having been without the walls of the ancient city,
(as, from the Scriptures, we know that Calvary was,)
is on the lower part of the sloping hill which Josephus
distinguished by the name of Acra, near where it was
joined to Mount Moriah by the filling up of the inter-
jacent ravine, under the Asmonean princes; conse-
quently near the centre of the city.* &
* The historical evidence in favour of the supposed identity of
the sacred places, mainly rests on an assertion of Jerome's (Epist.
ad Pawlinum de Instit. Monac.), that “ from the time of Hadrian
to the reign of Constantine, an interval of about 180 years, an
image of Jupiter marked the site of the Holy Sepulchre, and
a statue of Venus the place of the Resurrection; the persecutors
of the Christians thinking to destroy the faith of the Cross, by
thus polluting with idols the sacred places.” This representation,
as Dr. Clarke has remarked, is at direct variance with the assertion
cited by Chateaubriand from the author of the “Epitome of the
Holy Wars,” that Adrian gave the Christians permission to build
a church over the tomb of their God. Dion Cassius states, that
Adrian built a city on the site of Jerusalem, giving it the name of
AElia Capitolina, and that in the place where the Temple of God
had been, he erected one to Jupiter. Jerome seems to have con-
founded the site of the Temple with the place of the Resurrection.
Gibbon says, on the authority of Jerome and Tillemont: “Either
from design or accident, a chapel was dedicated to Venus on the
spot which had been sanctified by the death and resurrection of
Christ.” There is no proof of any such design ; nor could we, on
the mere testimony of Sozomen, admit the credibility of such an
accident. But the spot in question, as we have seen, could never
have been eitner a burial-place or a place of crucifixion, not being
without the city. Dr. Clarke supposes that the accidental fissure
in the rock, which is shewn by the priests as the effect of the earth-
quake, might lead the Empress Helena to fix on the spot now
THI E H () LY LAN ID. l 23
THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.
THE church of the Holy Sepulchre is built partly
on the low ground and partly on the ascent. It
is not entered from the Via Dolorosa ; the traveller
has to ascend the next street, and then, turning to the
left, to proceed along a winding descent, till he arrives
at a large open court in front of the church, where he
will find every thing his heart can wish in the form of
crucifixes, carved shells, beads and bracelets, saints
and sherbet ; all exposed to sale, and the venders
seated on the ground beside their wares. The court
is bounded by the wings of the convent : that on the
right contains Mount Calvary, and other supposititious
sacred places; that on the left, the Greek chapel, and
anciently the belfry. The door of the church faces
the court; it is on the side of the building. It is
open only on certain days in the week, and certain
hours in each day. To get it opened at any other
called Calvary, as the site of the crucifixion. The mode resorted
to for discovering the cross, by inflicting tortures on the Jews, and
the miracle which distinguished the true cross out of the three
produced by the Jews, which are parts of the tale, betray the
wretched ignorance and superstition of the principal agents in
these transactions. Theodoret affirms, that Helena, on her arrival
at Jerusalem, found the fame of Venus, and ordered it to be
thrown down. The old lady was then about eighty years of age.
If such fame existed, (Jerome, we have seen, says merely statua er
marmore Veneris,) a sufficient reason would be furnished for
selecting the place; the pagan edifice, instead of being thrown
down, would have been doubtless transformed into a Christian
temple, and the legend be adapted to the locality. In like manner,
the church of the Purification, which occupied the site of the
mosque of El Aksa, was probably no other, originally, than the
temple erected by Hadrian to Jupiter.
124 PALESTINE ; OR,
time, it is necessary to have an order of the two con-
vents, the Latin and the Greek, with the sanction of
the governor of the city. When open, the door is
always guarded by Turks, who exact a tribute from
all who enter. Once admitted, the visiters may remain
all night, if they please. The crowd pressing for ad-
mittance on certain days is immense ; and the Turks,
who keep the door, treat them in the roughest man-
ner, notwithstanding that they pay for admission,
squeezing and beating them about like so many cattle.
“It must be allowed,” says Dr. Richardson. “ that
they are often extremely riotous, and conduct them-
selves in a manner very unbecoming their character
of pilgrims.”
“Having passed within these sacred walls, the
attention is first directed to a large flat stone in the
floor, a little within the door; it is surrounded by a
rail, and several lamps hang suspended over it. The
pilgrims approach it on their knees, touch, and kiss it,
and, prostrating themselves before it, offer up their
prayers in holy adoration. This is the stone on which
the body of our Lord was washed and anointed, and
prepared for the tomb. Turning to the left, and pro-
ceeding a little forward, we came into a round space
immediately under the dome, surrounded with sixteen
large columns that support the gallery above. In the
centre of this space stands the holy sepulchre ; it is
enclosed in an oblong house, rounded at one end with
small arcades or chapels for prayer in the outside of
it, for the devotion of the Copts, the Abyssinians, the
Syrian, Maronite, and other Christians, who are not,
like the Roman Catholics, the Greeks, and the Arme-
nians, provided with large chapels in the body of the
church. At the other end it is squared off and fur-
T H E II O jLY L.A. N. D. 125
nished with a platform in front, which is ascended by
a flight of steps, having a small parapet wall of marble
on each hand, and being floored with the same mate-
rial. In the middle of this small platform stands a
block of polished marble about a foot and a half square;
on this stone sat the angel who announced the biessed
tidings of the resurrection to Mary Magdalen, and
Joanna, and Mary the mother of James : ‘He is not
here, he is risen, as he said: come, see the place
where the Lord lay? Advancing a step, and taking
off our shoes and turbans, at the desire of the keeper,
he drew aside the curtain. and stepping down and
bending almost to the ground, we entered, by a low
narrow door, into this mansion of victory, where
Christ triumphed over the grave, and disarmed death
of all his terrors.
“The tomb exhibited is a sarcophagus of white
marble, slightly tinged with blue ; it is six feet one
inch and three quarters long, three feet three quarters
of an inch broad, and two feet one inch and a quarter
deep, measured on the outside. It is but indifferently
polished, and seems as if it had at one time been
exposed to the pelting of the storm and the changes
of the season, by which it has been considerably dis-
integrated : it is without any ornament, and is made
in the fashion of a Greek sarcophagus, and not like
the ancient tombs of the Jews, which we see cut
in the rock for the reception of the dead ; nor like
those stone troughs, or sarcophagi, which, I have
already mentioned, were called to me the beds of the
Lord Jesus, of Mary, of John, and of Zacharias.
There are seven silver lamps constantly burning over
it, the gifts of different potentates, to illuminate this
scene of hope and joy. The sarcophagus occupies
126 PALESTINE ; or,
about one half of the sepulchral chamber, and extends
from one end of it to the other. A space about three
feet width in front of it, is all that remains for the
reception of visiters, so that not above three or four
can be conveniently admitted at a time.” ”
That the marble sarcophagus shewn as the sepul-
chre, has no pretensions to the distinction claimed for
it, stands in no need of proof. The Evangelists inform
us that the sepulchre in which the body of Jesus was
laid, was hewn out of the rock, which is not marble,
but compact limestone; a lateral excavation, in all
probability, of the same kind as are still seen in the
rocks round Jerusalem. The stone in the ante-room
of the tomb, shewn as that which was rolled to the
doorway of the sepulchre, and kissed and venerated by
the holy fathers accordingly, was admitted by the
guide, when strictly questioned, to be a substitute for
the real stone, which was stolen by the Armenians,t
and is exhibited by them in a chapel on Mount Zion :
but the block of marble, it was said, served their pur-
pose equally well. Dr. Richardson conjectures that,
were the historians of the sacred premises to exercise
the same degree of candour as their guide, it would
turn out that the stone trough called the Sereer Sidn
* Ali Bey states that the Mussulmans say prayers in all the
holy places consecrated to the memory of Jesus Christ and the
Virgin, except this tomb, which they do not acknowledge.
“ They believe that 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.”
f Maundrell mentions the fact as then of recent occurrence.
:- THE HOLY LAND. 127
Aisa by the Turks, was the sarcophagus originally ex-
hibited as the tomb of Christ.
“The walls of the sepulchral chamber itself are of
greenish marble, the species of breccia vulgarly called
verd-antique. It is pretended that this exterior is
only a casing to protect the internal surface of the
rock, which externally has been cut into the shape, to
use Dr. Clarke's expression, of a huge pepper-box; all
the surrounding rock being levelled to the floor of the
building, except this “grotto above ground,” as
Maundrell terms it. Thus, all that the pilgrim is
permitted to see, is a marble casing of a supposed rock,
which rock has, in fact, all the appearance of a build-
ing, as no doubt it really is.
From the sepulchre, the visiter is led to the place
where Christ appeared to Mary Magdalen ; to the
“chapel of apparition,” where he appeared to the
Virgin ; and then to the Greek chapel facing the
sepulchre, in the centre of which the Greeks have set
up a globe, to mark out the spot as the centre of the
earth ; thus transferring, as Dr. Richardson remarks,
the absurd notions of their ancient heathen priests
respecting the navel of the earth, from Delphi to
Jerusalem. A dark, narrow staircase of about
twenty steps conducts the pilgrim to Mount Calvary.*
Hére are shewn the place where Christ was mailed to
the cross, where the cross was erected, the hole in
* “On what authority,” asks Mr Buckingham, “is Calvary
called a mount 9” Assuredly on no scriptural authority. I he
Evangelists uniformly speak of it as the place (roºrov) called
Calvary. That gentleman's object is to shew that this may be
the site of Calvary, though it is not a mount, in which he wholly
fails; but he is right in supposing that the hill of Calvary, or a
mount of that name, is a mere figument. It would be a curious
inquiry, when and how the expression, which has been so iumpli-
citly received, first originated 2
128 PALESTINE ; OR,
which the end was fixed, and the rent in the rock, all
covered with marble, perforated in the proper places.
“To complete,” says Dr. Clarke, “the naïveté of the
tale, it is added, that the head of Adam was found
within the fissure.” “Mount Calvary” is, by that
learned traveller, stated to be in fact a modern piece of
masonry; a sort of altar, within the contracted dimen-
sions of which are exhibited the marks or holes of the
three crosses, without the smallest regard to the space
necessary for their erection.
Descending from Calvary, the pilgrim enters the
chapel of St. Helena, in the low rocky vault beneath
which the cross is said to have been found. In this
murky den, the invention (or finding) of the cross is
celebrated in an appropriate mass by the Latins on the
3d of May. It is large enough to contain about thirty
or forty persons, wedged in close array, and on that
occasion it is generally crowded. The year that Dr.
Richardson was at Jerusalem, it happened that the
day on which the festival was to be celebrated by the
Latins, was the same as that on which it was to be
celebrated by the Greeks; and he witnessed the tug of
war between the ecclesiastical combatants, who, with
brick-bats and clubs, teeth and nails, fought for their
chapel like kites or crows for their nest. The Romans
were routed. “The devil aids the Greeks,” exclaimed
the superior of the Latin Convent, panting from the
effects of a blow ; “they are schismatics; and you
Englishmen, who live in our convent, see us beaten
and do not assist us.” “How can you expect it,” it
was rejoined, “when, if we fell in your cause, you
would not allow us Christian burial P” The Greeks
spent the night in firing pistols and rejoicing ; and
were fined by the cadi next morning for disturbing his.
repose.
TH F II O LY LANL). 129
The fathers of the Latin convent annually perform
the crucifixion. Maundrell, who was present on one
occasion, has given a particular description of the
dramatic ceremonies.
“Their ceremony begins on Good Friday night,
which is called by them the nor tenebrosa, and is ob-
served with such an extraordinary solemnity, that I
cannot omit to give a particular description of it.
“As soon as it grew dusk, all the friars and pil-
grims were convened in the chapel of the Apparitions,
(which is a small oratory on the north side of the holy
grave, adjoining to the apartment of the Latins,) in
order to go in a procession round the church. But,
before they set out, one of the friars preached a sermon
in Italian in that chapel. He began his discourse
thus: In questa notte tenebrosa, &c., at which words
all the candles were instantly put out, to yield a
livelier image of the occasion. And so we were held
by the preacher, for near half an hour, very much in
the dark. Sermon being ended, every person present
had a large lighted taper put into his hand, as if it
were to make amends for the former darkness ; and
the crucifixes and other utensils were disposed in
order for beginning the procession. Amongst the
other crucifixes, there was one of a very large size,
which bore upon it the image of our Lord, as big
as the life. The image was fastened to it with great
nails, crowned with thorns, besmeared with blood ;
and so exquisitely was it formed, that it represented,
in a very lively manner, the lamentable spectacle of
our Lord's body, as it hung upon the cross. This
figure was carried all along in the head of the proces-
sion ; after which, the company followed to all the
sanctuaries in the church, singing their appointed
hymn at every one.
130 PALESTINE ; OR,
“The first place they visited was that of the pillar
of Flagellation, a large piece of which is kept in a
little cell, just at the door of the chapel of the Appa-
rition. There they sung their proper hymn ; and
another friar entertained the company with a sermon
in Spanish, touching the scourging of our Lord.
“From hence they proceeded in solemn order to the
prison of Christ, where they pretend he was secured
whilst the soldiers made things ready for his cruci-
fixion ; here, likewise, they sung their hymn, and a
third friar preached in French.
“From the prison they went to the altar of the di-
vision of Christ's garments; where they only sung
their hymn, without adding any sermon.
“Having done here, they advanced to the chapel of
the Derision ; at which, after their hymn, they had a
fourth sermon (as I remember) in French.
“From this place they went up to Calvary, leaving
their shoes at the bottom of the stairs. Here are two
altars to be visited : one where our Lord is supposed
to have been nailed to his cross; another where his
cross was erected. At the former of these they laid
down the great crucifix (which I but now described)
upon the floor, and acted a kind of resemblance of
Christ’s being nailed to the cross and after the hymn,
one of the friars preached another sermon in Spanish,
upon the crucifixion.
“From hence they removed to the adjoining altar,
where the cross is supposed to have been erected,
bearing the image of our Lord's body. At this altar
is a hole in the natural rock, said to be the very same
individual one in which the foot of our Lord's cross
stood. Here they set up their cross with the bloody
crucified image upon it; and, leaving it in that pos-
ture, they first sung their hymn, and then the father-
THE HIOLY LAND. | 3 ||
guardian, sitting in a chair before it, preached a pas-
sion Sermon in Italian.
“At about one yard and a half distance from the
hole in which the foot of the cross was fixed, is seen
that memorable cleft in the rock, said to have been
made by the earthquake which happened at the suf-
fering of the God of nature; when (as St. Matthew,
chap. xvii. verse 51, witnesseth) “ the rocks rent, and
the very graves were opened.” This cleft, as to what
now appears of it, is about a span wide at its upper
part, and two deep ; after which it closes; but it opens
again below, (as you may see in another chapel, con-
tiguous to the side of Calvary,) and runs down to an
unknown depth in the earth. That this rent was
made by the earthquake that happened at our Lord's
passion, there is only tradition to prove: but that it is
a natural and genuine breach, and not counterfeited by
any art, the sense and reason of every one that sees it
may convince him; for the sides of it fit like two
tallies to each other ; and yet it runs in such intricate
windings as could not well be counterfeited by art,
nor arrived at by any instruments.
“The ceremony of the passion being over, and the
guardian's sermon ended, two friars, personating, the
one Joseph of Arimathea, and the other Nicodemus,
approached the cross, and with a most solemn, con-
cerned air, both of aspect and behaviour, drew out the
great nails, and took down the feigned body from the
cross. It was an effigy so contrived that its limbs
were soft and flexible, as if they had been real flesh ;
and nothing could be more surprising than to see the
two pretended mourners bend down the arms, which
were before extended, and dispose them upon the
trunk, in such a manner as is usual in corpses.
“The body, being taken down from the cross, was
132 PALESTINE ; OR,
received in a fair large winding sheet, and carried
down from Calvary; the whole company attending,
as before, to the stone of unction. This is taken for
the very place where the precious body of our Lord
was anointed and prepared for the burial, John xix.
39. Here they laid down their imaginary corpse,
and, casting over it several sweet powders and spices,
wrapt it up in the winding sheet : whilst this was
doing, they sung their proper hymn, and after-
wards one of the friars preached in Arabic a funeral
SéITIOOIl.
“These obsequies being finished, they carried off
their fancied corpse, and laid it in the sepulchre,
shutting up the door till Easter morning. And now,
after so many sermons, and so long, not to say tedious
a ceremony, it may well be imagined, that the weari-
mess of the congregation, as well as the hour of the
night, made it needful to go to rest.
“The next morning nothing extraordinary passed,
which gave many of the pilgrims leisure to have their
arms marked with the usual ensigns of Jerusalem.
The artists who undertake the operation, do it in
this manner: they have stamps in wood of any figure
that you desire, which they first print off upon your
arm with powder of charcoal, then taking two very
fine needles, tied close together, and dipping them
often, like a pen, in certain ink, compounded, as I
was informed, of gunpowder and ox-gall, they make
with them small punctures all along the lines of the
figure which they have printed ; and then washing the
part in wine, conclude the work. These punctures
they make with great quickness and dexterity, and
with scarce any smart, seldom piercing so deep as to
draw the blood. -
“In the afternoon of this day the congregation
THE HOLY LAND. 133
was assembled in the area before the holy grave,
where the friars spent some hours in singing over the
Lamentations of Jeremiah, which function, with the
usual procession to the holy places, was all the cere-
mony of this day.
“On Easter morning the sepulchre was again set
open very early. The clouds of the former morning
were cleared up, and the friars put on a face of joy
and serenity, as if it had been the real juncture of our
Lord's resurrection. Nor, doubtless, was this joy
feigned, whatever their mourning might be, this being
the day in which their Lenten disciplines expired,
and they were come to a full belly again.
“The mass was celebrated this morning just before
the holy sepulchre, being the most eminent place in
the church, where the father-guardian had a throne
erected ; and being arrayed in episcopal robes, with
a mitre on his head, in the sight of the Turks, he
gave the host to all that were disposed to receive it:
not refusing children of seven or eight years old.
This office being ended, we made our exit out of the
sepulchre, and, returning to the convent, dined with
the friars.” e
Dr. Richardson was not in Jerusalem in time to
witness the celebration of the crucifixion by the Latin
Church, but was present at the service of the Greek
Church, on their anniversary of the resurrection.
“The rules of this Church,” he remarks, “ do not
permit the exhibition of graven images in their wor-
ship ; but, as some sensible representation of the body
of our Saviour was deemed necessary, either in the
way of mockery or devotion, one apparently lifeless
was extended on a board, and carried round the sepul-
chre, with a mighty uproar ; boys and men going
alongside of it, striking fire from flint. The cere-
IPART I. I
134 PALESTIN E ; OR,
mony began about eleven o'clock; the church was full
in every quarter. The conduct of many of the at-
tendants shewed that they entered the holy place in a
becoming frame of mind; these sat retired in the
different chapels or recesses that surround the sepul-
chre, and were chiefly females. The galleries above
were also crowded ; many Turkish officers were pre-
sent. The governor was expected, but did not arrive.
The mob occupied the body of the house, and their
behaviour was disorderly in the extreme ; they hal-
looed and ran about, leaped on one another's shoulders,
revelling in the most unseemly manner, more like
bacchanals or unchained maniacs, or a set of rioters at
a fair, than celebrators of the resurrection of the
blessed Jesus. Numbers of Turkish soldiers were
placed in the church to act as constables, and did their
best to preserve order and decency; but, notwith-
standing all their efforts in beating them with clubs,
pulling and thrusting them about like so many dis-
orderly animals, the noise and uproar continued till
about two o'clock, when the grand quackery of the
day began to be played off by the grand charlatan, the
Greek bishop of Jerusalem; for, with all possible
respect for his sacred office, I cannot designate him or
his exhibition by any other names that will adequately
describe their character. The juggle attempted to be
played off, is usually denominated the Grecian fire,
which, it is pretended, bursts from the holy sepulchre
in a supernatural manner, on the anniversary of this
day, and at which all the pilgrims of this persuasion
light their lamps and torches, believing that they have
thus received fire from heaven.
“Before the ceremony commenced, the higher
ecclesiastics entered the sepulchre, and in a little time
light was perceived at a small window in its side.
THE HOLY LAN ID. 135
Thither all the people crowded in wild disorder, and
lighted their torches at the flame, which, from the
place where we stood, the station of the organ belong-
ing to the Roman Catholic church, was distinctly seen
to issue from a burning body, placed on the lower part
of the window, within the tomb. This, when some of
the wicks were of difficult accession, was raised up and
pushed nearer; at other times the flame was lowered
down, and was out of sight, intimating that Heaven
required to draw its breath, and the fire to receive a
fresh supply of combustible materials; when again
raised up, it burned with greater brilliancy, and, on
becoming fainter, was again lowered down as before ;
which shewed that the priests meant to be very artful,
and were in reality very ignorant; for I am sure there
is not a pyrotechnist in London who would not have
improved the exhibition. Thus, however, they con-
tinued rising the light when strong, and lowering
it when it became faint, till all the torches were
lighted. No one, like the Druids of old, under the
pain of excommunication, durst light his torch at
that of another; all behoved to be regularly set on
fire by the flame from the window, otherwise they
were held in detestation all the year round. As soon,
however, as this illumination was accomplished, the
bishops and priests sallied forth from the tomb, and,
joined by the other ecclesiastics who were waiting
without in their canonicals, and with torches in their
hands, all arranged themselves according to the pre-
cedency of their churches, Greeks, Armenians, Copts,
Syrians, &c., &c., and marched three times round the
church, bearing their flaming torches high above their
heads. The effect was particularly brilliant, more
especially when they passed down or came up from
136 PALESTINE, OR,
encompassing the Greek chapel. The torches, by this
time, were either burnt out or extinguished, and here
the ceremony closed. The priests laid aside their
robes and their torches, and the multitude dispersed,
more convinced of any thing, if they reasoned at all,
than of the celestial origin of the fire by which their
torches had been lighted up. Need we be surprised,”
adds this intelligent writer, “ that monotheistical
Moslems deride the Christian devotion, insult them to
their face, and call them dogs and idolaters ?”
In Maundrell’s time, towards the end of the pro-
cession, “there was a pigeon came fluttering into the
cupola over the Sepulchre, at sight of which there
was a greater shout and clamour than before. This
bird,” he adds, “the Latins told us, was purposely
let fly by the Greeks, to deceive the people into the
opinion that it was a visible descent of the Holy
Ghost.” The Latins took a great deal of pains to
expose the whole ceremony as a most shameful im-
posture, and a scandal to the Christian religion ;
“ perhaps out of envy,” he remarks, “ that others
should be masters of so gainful a business; but the
Greeks and Armenians pin their faith upon it, and
make their pilgrimages chiefly upon this motive; and
it is the deplorable unhappiness of their priests, that
having acted the cheat so long already, they are forced
now to stand to it, for fear of endangering the apostacy
of their people.”
It is impossible to calculate the extent of the evil
resulting from this pernicious mummery, in its two-
fold character of a delusion on the minds of the pil-
grims, and a stumbling-block in the way of the con-
version of the Mahommedans. In the year 1820,
upwards of 3000 pilgrims visited the Holy City. They
TH. H. H. O. LY LAN ID. I 37
consisted of Greeks from Russia, Turkey, and Asia
Minor, Armenians, chiefly from Anatolia, Copts,
Syrians, and about fifty Roman Catholics from Damas-
cus. Very few of them were able to read, and scarcely
one had seen a copy of the Scriptures. The true
character of their religion may be judged of from the
fact, that the chief objects of the Greek pilgrims are,
to obtain candles touched with the sacred fire, under
the idea that, if burned at a person's funeral, they
will assuredly save his soul from punishment; and to
bathe themselves, and dip their linen in the Jordan,
bringing these clothes back to be carefully preserved
for their winding-sheet. “If this be not heathenism,”
it has been remarked, “what is Christianity P” Every
friend of his species must devoutly wish that all the
murky dens and grottoes of superstition, which pro-
fane and infest the once sacred city, were laid open to
the day, and the whole system of scandalous imposture
finally abolished.
The only genuine objects of interest in the Church
of the Sepulchre were the tombs of Godfrey of Bouil-
lon and his brother Baldwin : they are described by
Chateaubriand as two stone coffins, supported by four
little pillars, with Latin epitaphs in Gothic character.
They had nothing to recommend them but their anti-
quity. Mr. Buckingham states, that they have been
spitefully destroyed by the Greeks, so that not a
vestige of them remains.
The reader must have had more than enough of the
supposititious sacred places, and it cannot be necessary
to particularize the absurd legends which affect to
point out the precise spot on which every circum-
stance in the evangelical narrative occurred, down to
the window out of which Dives looked upon Lazarus,
and the place where Peter's cock crew. Whatever
**
A 2
R38 PALESTINE ; or,
objects of antiquarian interest Jerusalem may yet
contain, remain to be brought to light by excavation,
which, under present circumstances, is impracticable.
By far the most interesting objects within the city
3.1°6.
THE JEWS.
THE Jews reside chiefly on the edge of Mount
Zion, and in the lower part of the city, near the
shambles, which, in summer, are dreadfully offensive.
Here, again, we shall avail ourselves of the account
given of the present condition of the Jews of Jeru-
salem by Dr. Richardson. He reports their number
to be 10,000; an amazing increase, if correct, within
the past thirty years.”
“Many of the Jews are rich and in comfortable
circumstances ; and possess a good deal of property in
Jerusalem; but they are careful to conceal their
wealth, and even their comfort, from the jealous eye
of their rulers, lest, by awakening their cupidity, some
vile, indefensible plot should be devised to their preju-
dice. In going to visit a respectable Jew in the holy
city, it is a common thing to pass to his house over a
ruined foreground and up an awkward outside stair,
constructed of rough unpolished stones, that totter
under the foot ; but it improves as you ascend, and at
the top has a respectable appearance, as it ends in an
agreeable platform in front of the house. On entering
the house itself, it is found to be clean and well fur-
nished ; the sofas are covered with Persian carpets,
and the people seem happy to receive you. The
visiter is entertained with coffee and tobacco, as is the
* Mr. Buckingham was told, that, previously to the invasion of
Syria by Buonaparte, a law existed among the Turks, that there
should be no more than 2000 Jews in Jerusalem, on pain of death
to those who cxceeded that uurber.
THE HOLY LAND. 139
custom in the houses of the Turks and Christians.
The ladies presented themselves with an ease and
address that surprised me, and recalled to my memory
the pleasing society of Europe. This difference of
manner arises from many of the Jewish families in
Jerusalem having resided in Spain or Portugal, when
the females had rid themselves of the cruel domestic
fetters of the East, and, on returning to their beloved
land, had very properly maintained their justly ac-
quired freedom and rank in society. They almost all
speak a broken Italian, so that conversation goes on
without the clumsy aid of an interpreter.
“It was the feast of the Passover, and they were
all eating unleavened bread; some of which was pre-
sented to me as a curiosity, and I partook of it merely
that I might have the gratification of eating un-
leavened bread with the sons and daughters of Jacob,
in Jerusalem ; it is very insipid fare, and no one would
eat it from choice. For the same reason I went to the
synagogue, of which there are two in Jerusalem,
although I visited only one. The form of worship is
the same as in this country, and I believe in every
country which the Jews inhabit. The females have a
separate part of the synagogue assigned to them, as in
the synagogues in Europe, and in the Christian
churches all over the Levant. They are not, however,
expected to be frequent or regular in their attendance
on public worship. The ladies generally make a point
of going on the Sunday, that is the Friday night or
Saturday morning, after they are married; and being
thus introduced in their new capacity, once a year is
considered as sufficient conpliance, on their part, with
the ancient injunction to assemble themselves together
in the house of prayer. Like the votaries of some
140 PALESTINE ; OR,
Christian establishments, the Jewesses trust more to
the prayers of their priests than to their own.
“The synagogues in Jerusalem are both poor and
small, not owing to the poverty of their possessors, but
to the prudential motives above-mentioned.
“The Jewesses in Jerusalem speak in a decided
and firm tone, unlike the hesitating and timid voice
of the Arab and Turkish females; and claim the
European privilege of differing from their husbands,
and maintaining their own opinions. They are fair
and good-looking; red and auburn hair are, by no
means uncommon in either of the sexes. I never
saw any of them with veils; and was informed that
it is the general practice of the Jewesses in Jeru-
salem to go with their faces uncovered ; they are the
only females there who do so. Generally speaking,
I think they are disposed to be rather of a plethoric
habit ; and the admirers of size and softness in the
fair sex, will find as regularly well-built fatties, with
double mouldings in the neck and chin, among the
fair daughters of Jerusalem, as among the fairer
daughters of England. They seem particularly liable
to eruptive diseases ; and the want of children is as
great a heart-break to them now as it was in the days
of Sarah.
“In passing up to the synagogue, I was particularly
struck with the mean and wretched appearance of
the houses on both sides of the streets, as well as
with the poverty of their inhabitants. Some of the old
men and old women had more withered and hungry
aspects than any of our race I ever saw, with the
exception of the caverned dames at Gornou, in Egyp-
tian Thebes, who might have sat in a stony field
as a picture of famine the year after the flood. The
THE HOLY LAND. | 4 |
sight of a poor Jew in Jerusalem has in it something
peculiarly affecting. The heart of this wonderful
people, in whatever clime they roam, still turns to it
as the city of their promised rest. They take pleasure
in her ruins, and would lick the very dust for her
sake. Jerusalem is the centre around which the
exiled sons of Judah build, in airy dreams, the man-
sions of their future greatness. In whatever part of
the world he may live, the heart's desire of a Jew,
when gathered to his fathers, is to be buried in Jeru-
salem. Thither they return from Spain and Portugal,
from Egypt and Barbary, and other countries among
which they have been scattered ; and when, after
all their longings, and all their struggles up the
steeps of life, we see them poor, and blind, and
naked in the streets of their once happy Zion, he
must have a cold heart that can remain untouched by
their sufferings, without uttering a prayer that the
light of a reconciled countenance would shine on the
darkness of Judah, and the day-star of Bethlehem
arise in their hearts.
“The Jews are the best cicerones in Jerusalem,
because they generally give the ancient names of
places, which the guides and interpreters belonging
to the different convents do not. They are not for-
ward in presenting themselves, and must generally
be sought for.”
ICHNOGRAPHY, POPULATION OF THE CITY, &c.
CHATEAUBRIAND gives the following statement of
the ichnography of the city. The three principal
streets are harat * bab el hamond (the street of the gate
of the column, or Damascus gate), crossing the city
* More properly tarrek, street, hurat signifying lane.
} 42 PALESTIN E ; OR,
from north to south ; souk el kebir, the street of the
great bazar, running from east to west ; and harat
el alldºm, the Via Dolorosa, running from St. Stephen's
gate to Calvary. Besides these, he enumerates seven
other smaller streets : harat el Mºuslmin, the street of
the Turks; harat el Nassara, the street of the Chris-
tians, leading from the church of the Sepulchre to the
Latin convent ; harat el Arman, the street of the
Armenians, to the east of the castle; harat el Youd,
the street of the Jews, in which are the shambles ;
harat bab hotta, the street near the temple ; harat el
zahara, the public quarter ; and harat el Maugrabé
the street of the Maugrabins. These Maugrabins,
he states, are the people of the west of Barbary.
“Among them are included some descendants of the
Moors, driven from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella,
These exiles were charitably received in the Holy
City; a mosque was built for their use ; and bread,
fruits, and money, are yet distributed among them.
The heirs of the proud Abencerrages, the elegant
architects of the Alhambra, are become porters at
Jerusalem, who are sought after on account of their
intelligence, and as couriers are esteemed for their
swiftness. What would Saladin and Richard say, if,
suddenly returning to the world, they were to find the
Moorish champions transformed into the door-keepers
of the holy sepulchre, and the Christian knights re-
presented by brethren of the mendicant order . * *
The Mussulmans reside chiefly round the harám
schereeſ”; the Christians, in the neighbourhood of
their own convents. Those of the Roman Catholic
persuasion live near the convent of St. Salvadore, in
the north-west corner of the city. Those of the Greek
* Travels in Greece, &c., vol. ii. p. 89,
Til E HOLY LAND. 143
church reside lower down the hill, towards the south-
east, near the small and ruined convent of St. John,
which is at present occupied by Syrian Christians.
To the south, and nearly on the summit of Mount
Zion, stands the Armenian convent of St. James,
by far the most magnificent in Jerusalem, having a
spacious walled garden attached to it. The Armenian
patriarch, a dignified old man, resides in the convent,
together with the bishop, and a number of the in-
ferior clergy. The apartments are small, but well
furnished with sofas and rich Persian carpets. “Every
thing belonging to it,” says Dr. Clarke, “is Oriental.”
The usual dress of the Armenian clergy is dark blue;
they even carry it so far as to wear pocket handker-
chiefs of the same colour. “The dresses in which they
officiate are the most sumptuous,” says Dr. Richard-
son, “I ever saw, excepting on some of the dignitaries
in St. Peter’s at Rome.” Their church is also the
richest, and largest, and most numerously attended of
all the Christian churches. According to Maundrell,
there are two altars set out with extraordinary splen-
dour, “being decked with rich mitres, embroidered
copes, crosses both silver and gold, crowns, chalices,
and other church utensils without number. In the
middle of the church, is a pulpit made of tortoise-shell
and mother-of-pearl, with a beautiful canopy or cupola
over it, of the same fabric. The tortoise-shell and
mother-of-pearl are so exquisitely mingled and inlaid
in each other, that the work far exceeds the material.”
Mr. Buckingham does not notice the pulpit, but de-
scribes three altars, fronting the door of entrance; these
are, he concurs in stating, as splendid as wealth could
make them. “ The church,” he says, “ though small,
is of a lofty height, and crowned by a central dome,
and being entirely free of pews or stalls of any de-
144 PALESTINE, OR,
scription, looks considerably larger than it really is.
The walls are every where covered with pictures
executed in the worst taste; yet, from the mere pro-
fusion of their numbers, and the gayety of their
colouring, they produce on the whole an agreeable
effect. The pillars both of the church and the offices
of the sacristy, as well as the portals of the door lead-
ing to it, and the inner walls, are all cased with
porcelain tiles, painted in blue with crosses and other
sacred devices. The mosaic pavement is the most
beautiful of its kind. The whole is carefully covered
with rich Turkey carpets, excepting only a small space
before the great altar. In a small recess on the left
is shewn the sanctuary of St. James, thought to be
on the spot on which he was beheaded ; and this is
ornamented with sculpture in white marble, with
massy silver lamps, and gilding, and painting, pro-
ducing altogether a surprising richness of effect. The
door which leads to this, is still more beautiful, and is
composed entirely of tortoise-shell, mother-of-pearl,
gold, and silver, all exquisitely inlaid.” ” Hassel-
quist dwells on the ornaments of this church as
“well worth seeing, being, past all doubt, the richest
and most valuable that any church in the East can
boast of, and perhaps equal to the ornaments of the
largest and richest Christian churches in Europe.
The ornaments of the Latins,” he says, “are magni-
ficent, and perhaps in a better taste ; but they them-
selves own that the Armenians are richer. The
Greeks in this respect are not to be compared with
either of them.” He tells us that the Armenian
convent had 1000 chambers for pilgrims, besides those
of the monks; and that not a year passed, but more
Travels, vol. i. pp. 370, 371.
THI E HOLY LAN H). | | 5
than that number arrived from Armenia, Persia. and
Turkey, who never leave it without considerable
alms.” “ The disposition of the worthy Naturalist to
deal in round numbers, however, is shewn by his
stating Jerusalem to contain among its inhabitants
about 20,000 Jews. Pilgrims of the above persuasion
come in great numbers from Constantinople, Armenia,
Egypt, and all parts of the Levant, to keep the feast
of Easter, and dip their shirts in the Jordan.
The Armenians are described by Dr. R., as “a
strong, good-looking race of people, highly dignified
in their deportment, civil and industrious. There
are many of them settled at Jerusalem in comfortable
circumstances. Their houses are well kept and well
furnished. On visiting them, the stranger is received
with a warmth unusual even among the Greeks, and
it is the more agreeable for being sincere. He is
treated with coffee and a pipe of tobacco, a glass of
liquor, cakes, biscuits, and different kinds of sweet-
meats, which are handed to him by the mistress of the
family, her daughter, or servant; all being usually
in attendance, although there should be only one guest
to be served. They take the cup or glass from him
when he has done with it, and kiss his hand as they
receive it. They pour water on his hands for him to
wash after he has done eating, and give him a towel
to dry them ; on receiving which, they again lay hold
of the hand and kiss it, and then retire to their station
with the servant near the door. Mother, daughter,
and man-servant, are all alike candidates to take the
* “Three years ago,” says Hasselquist (in 1751,) “an Armenian
from Persia paid for the first fire, (that is, the first to receive the
sacred fire on Easter eve from the bishop,) 30,000 sequins ; a sum
which perhaps never was given for an answer from the Delphian
Oracle.”—Traveis, p. 138
P A R T l R
| 46 PALESTINE ; or,
cup and kiss the hand ; and, in point of etiquette, it
matters not to which of them the guest delivers it.
They seldom sit down in his presence, and never
without much entreaty, even though the state of their
health should be such as to render it improper for
them to stand; afraid that by so doing they should
be thought deficient in respect to their visiter. The
Armenian ladies have a sedate and pleasant manner,
with much of the Madonna countenance ; their eyes
are generally dark, their complexion florid, but they
are rarely enriched with that soft intelligent expression
which characterises the eye of the Greek or Jewish
female.”
The present population has been variously esti-
mated from 20,000 to 30,000 souls, and can only be
conjectured : in fact, the numbers are continually
fluctuating. Dr. Richardson classes the inhabitants
thus : 5,000 Mussulmans, 5,000 Christians, and
10,000 Jews. Mr. Buckingham says, the Mahom-
medans are the most numerous; but he must have
been misinformed respecting the number of Jews.
He was told, he says, by Moallim Zacharias, the
banker of the governor, and chief of the Jews at
Jerusalem, that there were not one thousand male
Jews within the city, but at least three thousand
females. “No male Jews,” he said, “ came hither,
but such as were contented to live poorly, or had
money to let out at interest for their subsistence, as
there was no commerce practised in the place ; and
all, therefore, were either rabbies, or students, or
devout persons. Widows, however, from all countries,
if they could get to Jerusalem, were sure of being
maintained by the community of their own religion;
and accordingly, as many as could get together the
means of doing so, flocked here for that purpose.
TH.E HOLY L.A. N. D. 147
The great happiness of the people,” he added, “ was
to die at Jerusalem, and to be buried in the valiey
of Jehoshaphat.” + There might be motives for con-
cealing the real number of the Jewish population.
If, however, the fixed Jewish population be taken at
this low estimate of about 5,000, the number may
very probably be raised by occasional inhabitants to
10,000. The Mahommedans consist of nearly equal
portions of Osmanli Turks from Asia Minor; descend-
ants of pure Turks by blood, but Arabians by birth :
a mixture of Turkish and Arab blood by inter-
marriages; and pure Syrian Arabs. Of Christians,
the proportions are as follow : the Roman Catholics
consist of the few monks of the Franciscan convent,
who are chiefly Spaniards, and the still fewer Latin
pilgrims who occasionally repair thither; the Greeks
are the most numerous ; the Armenians rank next to
the Greeks as to numbers, but far exceed them in
wealth and influence; the Copts are reduced almost
to nothing ; and the other sects, Abyssinians, Maro-
nites, &c., are lost in the crowd.t The period during
* Buckingham's Travels, second edition, 8vo. vol. i. p. 399.
f Mr. Jolliffe gives “he supposed numbers as follow:—
Jews.... from 3,000 to 4,000
Roman Catholics . . . . 800
Greeks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,000
Armenians . . . . . . . . . . 400
Copts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Mahommedans . . . . . . 13,000
20,250
In this calculation the Jews and the Armenians are certainly
under-rated : the Latims and Mussulmen are over-estimated. Mr.
Jolliffe's information was confessedly drawn from very imperfect
sources; probably the Christians; Mr. Buckingham's informant
was a Jew ; Dr. Richardson's was Turkish authority. This may
partly explain the variations.
t >
$ 3 * . . .
e
148 PALESTINE ; OR,
which the city is most populous, is from Christmas to
Easter : at the latter festival, it is crowded, and the
spectacle of the motley population is such as can
scarcely be paralleled.
BEAD AND RELIC TRADE
IN Jerusalem, there is scarcely any trade, and but
few manufactures: the only flourishing one is that of
crucifixes, chaplets, beads, shells, and relics, of which
whole cargoes are shipped from Jaffa, for Italy, Spain,
and Portugal.” The shells are of the kind called
mother-of-pearl, ingeniously though coarsely sculp-
tured into various shapes. Those of the largest size,
and the most perfect, are formed into clasps for the
zones of the Greek women. Such clasps are worn by
the ladies of Cyprus, Crete, Rhodes, and other islands
of the Archipelago. All these, after being purchased,
are taken to the church of St. Sepulchre, where they
undergo the process of benediction or consecration,
and are then fit for use. In like manner, beads and
crosses purchased at Loretto, are placed in a wooden
bowl belonging to the house of the Virgin, to be con-
secrated for the purpose of being worn as amulets.}
The beads are manufactured either from date stones,
or from a very hard kind of wood called Mecca fruit:
when first wrought, it appears of the colour of box :
it is then dyed yellow, black, or red. They are of
various sizes ; the smaller are the most esteemed, on
account of the greater number used to fill a string;
and rosaries sell at higher prices when they have been
long worn, because the beads acquire a polish by
* Buckingham's Travels, vol. ii. p. 6. Clarke's Travels, vol. iv.
p. 306.
+ Clarke's Travels, vol. iv. 8vo. p. 304,
‘. *
* .
T H E HOLY LAN ID. | 49
friction, Strings of beads are in request equally
among the Moslems and the Christians. The custom
of carrying them appears to have been in use long
before the Christian era, and still prevails in the
East. This is but one instance among many, of the
Heathen origin of the Romish customs. The shell
worn as a badge by pilgrims had probably a similar
origin : it was an ancient symbol of Astarte, the
Syrian Venus. Rosaries and amulets are made also of
the black fetid lime-stone of the Dead Sea, to be worn
as a charm against the plague. Amulets of the same
mineral substance have been found in the chambers
below the pyramids of Sakhara, in Upper Egypt : the
effluvia is owing to the presence of sulphuretted hydro-
gen. The Armenians and the Jews are the chief
traders in these sacred wares.
The local government of Jerusalem consists of the
mozallam, or military governor; the moula cadi, or
chief of the police ; the mufti, the head of the eccle-
siastical and judicial departments ; the capo verde, or
agent for the mosque of Omar ; and the soubaski, or
town-major. All these, with the exception of the
mufti, hold their appointment at the pleasure of the
pacha of Damascus.
MOUNT SION.
THE Armenian convent, with its church and gar-
dens, occupies the whole of that part of Mount Sion
which is now within the walls: the greater part is
now excluded from the city; and for the best descrip-
tion of this interesting site, we must avail ourselves of
Dr. Richardson's Travels.
“ Passing out by Zion gate, or, as it is more
frequently denominated, the gate of David, the first
150 PALESTINE ; OR,
object that meets the eye of the traveller, is a long
dingy-looking Turkish mosque, situated on the middle
of Mount Zion. It is called the mosque of the pro-
phet David, and is said to be built over his tomb,
which is still exhibited in the interior, and is held in
the greatest possible veneration by the Mussulmans.
The Santones belonging to the mosque in Mount
Zion, are the most powerful in Jerusalem. Part of
this building was anciently the Church of the Coena-
culum, where our Saviour ate the last supper with
his disciples ; and I was shewn into an upper room
in the front of the building, which both the Santon
and the Ciceroni affirmed to be the identical room in
which this memorable event, to which the Christian
world owes the institution of the Holy Sacrament of
the Supper, took place. I should probably have be-
lieved them, had I not learnt from higher authority,
that, thirty-nine years thereafter, not only the walls,
but every house in Jerusalem, had been rased from its
foundations, and the ground ploughed up by the
Roman soldiers, in order that they might discover the
treasures which they supposed the unfortunate Jews
had hidden under their feet.
“To the right of the mosque, and between it and
the gate of the city, there is a small Armenian chapel,
built on the spot where formerly stood the palace
of Caiaphas. It is remarkable for nothing but that
the stone which closed up the door of the holy sepul-
chre, is built in an altar at the upper end of it, and
exposed in several places to be kissed and caressed,
Hike other precious relics. It is an unpolished block
of compact lime-stone, the same with the rock on
which the city stands, and does not, like the block
of polished marble in present use, carry in its face
the refutation of its once having served the office
THE HOLY LAND. I 5.1
assigned to it, though I confess there is almost as
little probability that it ever did.
“A few paces to the west of the chapel, there is a
Christian burying-ground; and among the lettered
tomb-stones are several inscribed in the language of
our own country. They record the names, and cover
the ashes of Englishmen, who are reported to have
met their deaths in a way not very creditable to the
Franciscan convent. A little to the south of this is
shewn the place where the Virgin Mary expired; and
on the north side of the gate is shewn—what ? The
place where the cock crew to Peter.
. “Such is the sum total of the information which
the traveller receives from his guide respecting the
topography of this interesting spot, Mount Zion.
At the time when I visited this sacred ground, one
part of it supported a crop of barley, another was
undergoing the labour of the plough, and the soil
turned up consisted of stone and lime mixed with
earth, such as is usually met with in the foundations
of ruined cities. It is nearly a mile in circumference,
is highest on the west side, and towards the east
falls down in broad terraces on the upper part of the
mountain, and narrow ones on the side, as it slopes
down towards the brook Kedron. Each terrace is
divided from the one above it by a low wall of dry
stone, built of the ruins of this celebrated spot. The
terraces near the bottom of the hill are still used as
gardens, and are watered from the pool of Siloam.
They belong chiefly to the inhabitants of the small
village of Siloa immediately opposite. We have here
another remarkable instance of the special fulfilment
of prophecy: “Therefore shall Zion for your sakes be
ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps.’
—Micah iii. 12.
| 52 PALESTINE ; or,
“ Mount Zion is considerably higher than the
ground on the north, on which the ancient city
stood, or that on the east leading on to the valley
of Jehoshaphat, but has very little relative height
above the ground on the south and on the west, and
must have owed its boasted strength principally to
a deep ravine, by which it is encompassed on the
east, south, and west, and the strong high walls and
towers by which it was enclosed and flanked com-
pletely round. This ravine, or valley, as the term
has been rendered, though the word trench or ditch
would have conveyed a more correct idea of its ap-
pearance, seems to have been formed by art on the
south and on the west, the surface of the ground on
each side being nearly of equal height, though Mount
Zion is certainly the highest, yet so little so that it
could not have derived much additional strength from
its elevation. The breadth of this ditch is stated by
Strabo, to be about 150 feet, and its depth, or the
height of Mount Zion above the bottom of the ravine,
to be about sixty feet. The measurement, in both
instances, is nearly correct, and furnishes one among
many proofs that we derive from other sources, that
the places now called by these names are the same
as those that were anciently so denominated. The
bottom of this ravine is rock, covered with a thin
sprinkling of earth, and, in the winter season, is the
natural channel for conveying off the water that falls
into it from the higher ground ; but, on both sides,
the rock is cut perpendicularly down, and most pro-
bably it was the quarry from which the greater part
of the stones were taken for building the city. The
precipitous edge of the ravine is more covered with
earth on the side of Mount Zion than on the other
side, which is probably owing to the barbarous custom
TH F II O LY LAN D. 153
of razing cities from their foundations, and tumbling
both earth and stone into the ditch below. The loose
stones have been all removed from it for building the
present city. This ravine extends further north than
the present wall of the city, and ends in a gradual
slope of deep earth, so as to countenance the opinion
that it once extended further than it does now.”
PLACES WITHOUT THE WALLS OF JERUSA LEM.
IT only remains to describe the objects of anti-
quarian curiosity, which present themselves without
the walls of modern Jerusalem. We have by antici-
pation described the royal sepulchres, which lie to the
north, in examining the boundaries of the ancient
city. Before we descend into the valley of Jehosha-.
phat, we must stop to notice, close by St. Stephen's
gate, the supposed remains of the pool of Bethesda.
Maundrell gives the measurement—120 paces long,
forty broad, and at least eight deep ; but, he adds,
void of water. “ At its west end it discovers some
old arches, now dammed up. These, some will have
to be the five porches in which sate that multitude
of lame, halt, and blind. (John v.) But the mischief
is, instead of five, there are but three of them.”
Pococke, in speaking of the same place, makes the
following sensible remarks : “ There seems to have
been a deep fossée to the north of Mount Moriah.”
(by which no doubt it was divided from Bezetha,)
“ the east part of which is still to be seen, and is called
by the monks the pool of Bethesda. At the east end
of it, at the entrance to the court of the temple, are
remains of some buildings of very large hewn stone,
particularly an entablature in a good taste, which
might be part of an entrance that Hadrian might
have made to his new grove. If this fossée was car-
R 2
154 PALESTINE, OR,
ried all along to the north of Mount Moriah, it must
have passed where the house of Pilate is now shewn,
which part might be filled up with the ruins of the
Temple. If the Christians, when they had possession
of Jerusalem, had dug here and in other parts,
especially to the east of the temple, and to the south
of Mount Zion, they might, without doubt, have
found great remains of the materials of the Temple
and of the palaces on Mount Zion, and probably have
been able to pass some judgement on the architecture
of them. This fossée does not seem to be the pool
of Bethesda, which, by all accounts, must have been
to the south, or about the south-west of Mount
Moriah. In St. Jerome's time, there were two pools,
one filled by the rain; the other was of reddish water,
as if it retained the colour of the sacrifices ; and I
suppose it was about the gardens to the south of the
church of the purification, which is within the site
of the court of the Temple; and the quarter called
Ophel was also probably in this part of the city. For
it was at the south corner of the Temple, where the
Nethinims lived, who had the care of the sacrifises,
and might extend to the north part of the hill or
valley.” +
Descending into the valley from St. Stephen's gate,
the traveller comes to the bed of the brook Kedron,
which is but a few paces over. This brook is stated
by Pococke, to have its rise a little way further to
the north, but its source does not appear to have been
ascertained. Like the Ilissus, it is dry at least nine
months in the year; its bed is narrow and deep,
which indicates that it must formerly have been the
channel for waters that have found some other and
* I’ocockc's Travels, book i. chap. 3.
T H E HOLY LAN ID. l 55
probably subterranean course. There is now no water
in it, except after heavy rains. A bridge is thrown
over it a little below the gate of St. Stephen ; and
they say, that when there is water, unless the torrent
swells much, which very rarely occurs, it all runs
under ground to the north of this bridge. The course
of the brook is along the valley of Jehoshaphat, to
the south-west corner of the city, and then, turning
to the south, it runs to the Dead Sea.
Passing over this bridge, a descent of several steps
to the left conducts the traveller to the sepulchre of
the Blessed Virgin; a lofty and spacious vault or cave,
(Chateaubriand terms it a subterraneous church,)
hewn with surprising labour in a stratum of hard
compact lime-stone, and there can be no doubt that
the persons here interred, must have been held in
high veneration, or of distinguished rank. Neither
Eusebius, Epiphanius, nor Jerome, however, mentions
a syllable to authorise the tradition. The earliest
notice of this sepulchre as that of the Virgin, occurs
in the writings of Adamnanus, the Irish monk, who
described it from the testimony of Arculfus, in the
seventh century ; and it is mentioned by another
writer, who lived in the beginning of the eighth.*
These are authorities undeserving of attention, when
opposed to the negative evidence supplied by the
silence of the above-mentioned writers, and the high
improbability that, at the period of the Virgin's death,
the early Christians should have had it in their power
to pay this magnificent tribute of veneration for her
memory.'t Pococke, upon the authority of authors
* Clarke's Travels, 8vo. vol. iv, chap. 8, p 368.
# Chateaubriand says: “Though Mary did not die at Jerusalem,
yet, according to the opinion of several of the fathers, she was
miraculously buried at Gethsemane by the apostles. Enthymius
1 5 ; PALESTINE ; OR,
whom he has not named, thinks it probable that it
was the sepulchre of Melisendis, queen of Jerusalem.
You descend to it by a flight of fifty (Maundrell says
forty-seven) marble steps, each step twenty feet wide :
these are conjectured by Dr. Clarke to be of less high
antiquity than the sepulchre itself, which is the
largest of all the crypta or caves near Jerusalem, and
no era can be with any certainty fixed upon as the
date of its construction. “ It ranks,” he remarks,
“among those colossal works which were accomplished
by the inhabitants of Asia Minor, of Phenicia, and of
Palestine, in the first ages; works which differ from
those of Greece, in displaying less of beauty, but more
of arduous enterprise ; works which remind us of the
people, rather than of the artist ; which we refer to as
monuments of history, rather than of taste.” Appro-
priate chapels within this same cave, distinguish the
supposed tombs of Anna, Joachim, and Joseph also.
In that of the Virgin, the different Christian sects
have each their altar, and even the Turks have an
oratory here. -
Proceeding along the valley, at the foot of Mount
Olivet is the garden of Gethsemane ; an even plat of
ground, says Maundrell, not above 57 yards square,
where are shewn some old olive trees, supposed to
identify the spot to which our Lord was wont to
resort. (John xviii. 1, 2.) To the south of this spot,
in the rocks on the eastern side, are what are called
the sepulchres of the Patriarchs : these are four in
number, and are severally distinguished as the se-
relates the history of this marvellous funeral. St. Thomas having
caused the coſfin to be opened, nothing was found in it but a virgin
robe, the simple and mean garment of that queen of glory, whom
the angels had conveyed to heaven.” (!! The identity of the sepul-
chre may be judged of by the jegend.
THE HOLY LAN D. 157
pulchre of Jehoshaphat, of Absalom, of St. James, and
of Zachariah. In those of Absalom and Zachariah,
the rock has been cut away so as to form an area, in
the centre of which appears a monument of prodigious
size, seeming to consist of a single stone, although
standing as if erected by an architect, and adorned
with columns appearing to support the edifice, of
which they are, in fact, integral parts ; the whole
of each mausoleum being of one mass of stone, hewn,
and not built. The ornaments of Absalom's sepulchre
consist of twenty-four semi-columns of the Doric order,
not fluted ; six on each front of the monument, which
stands about fifteen feet from the rock out of which it
has been hewn. “On the capital is the frieze, with
the triglyph ; and above the frieze rises a socle, which
supports a triangular pyramid, too lofty for the total
height of the tomb. The pyramid is not of the same
piece as the rest of the monument.” “ There is a
room cut out of the rock in Absalom's pillar, con-
siderably above the level of the ground on the outside.
In the sides of this room are niches, apparently
designed to receive corpses or coffins.t. It is an
extraordinary circumstance, that to these two sepul-
chres there is at present no perceptible entrance ; the
only way of gaining admittance into the interior of
that of Absalom, is through a hole recently broken
for the purpose ; to that of Zachariah there is nome.
Pococke conjectures, that if the former served as a
sepulchre, there might originally have been some
under-ground entrance, now closed up—“ as I was
informed,” he adds, “there is to the tomb of Za-
chariah, which, they say, is known to the Jews, and
that they privately carry their dead to it.” This latter
* Chateaubriand, vol. ii. p. 100. t Pococke, book i. chap. 6.
1 5S PALESTINE ; OR,
sepulchre is described by Chateaubriand as terminating
in a point bending a little back, like the Phrygian
caps, or a Chinese monument. The sepulchre of
Jehoshaphat is a grot, the door of which, in a very
good style, is its principal ornament. Over this are
sepulchres of the Jews. The cave of St. James has a
handsome portico of four columns, which do not rest
upon the ground, but are placed at a certain height in
the rock, in the same manner as the colonnade of the
Louvre rises from the first story of the palace.
It has never been determined when or by what
people these sepulchres were hewn. They are de-
scribed by Dr. Clarke as a continuation of one vast
cemetery, extending along the base of the mountainous
elevations which surround Jerusalem on its southern
and eastern sides ; and which, independently of every
other consideration, would indicate the former ex-
istence of a numerous, flourishing, and powerful
people. To relate the legends of the monks respecting
them, would, he remarks, be worse than silence. Even
Chateaubriand admits that their architecture contra-
dicts the tradition, and proves that they cannot date
so far back as the earliest period of Jewish antiquity.
“If I were required,” he says, “to fix precisely the
age in which these mausoleums were erected, I should
place it about the time of the alliance between the
Jews and the Lacedemonians, under the first Macca-
bees. The Doric order was still prevalent in Greece;
the Corinthian did not supplant it till half a century
later, when the Romans began to overrun Pelopon-
nesus and Asia. In naturalising at Jerusalem the
architecture of Corinth and Athens,” he adds, “the
Jews intermixed it with the forms of their peculiar
style. The tombs in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and
the sepulchres of the kings (north of the city), display
THE HOLY LAN D. 1 59
a manifest alliance of the Egyptian and Grecian taste;
from this alliance resulted a heterogeneous kind of
monuments, forming, as it were, the link between the
Pyramids and the Parthenon.” ” Dr. Clarke, who
cites these observations with high approbation of their
judiciousness and accuracy, remarks that the columns
are of that ancient style and character which yet
appear among the works left by Ionian and Dorian
colonies in the remains of their Asiatic cities, parti-
cularly at Telmessus.
Crossing the brook Kedron, the traveller next ar-
rives at a fountain on the right, thought by some (says
Pococke) to be the Dragon-well, mentioned by Nehe-
miah (c. ii. 13), but commonly called the fountain of
the Blessed Virgin, where, the monks say, she washed
our Saviour's linen There is a descent down to it of
many steps, and a channel is cut from it under the
rock, which might convey the water to the city. “It
may be considered,” he adds, “whether this was not
really the ancient fountain of Siloah, which was so far
under the hill, that it could not be commanded in
time of war by such as were not masters of that part
of the city. This fountain seems to have flowed into
a basin called the pool of Siloam, and probably is the
same as the lower pool.” At this point the valley ex-
tending towards the west, is much wider than in the
other parts.
Adhering to Pococke as our guide, a little beyond
this fountain, the shallow vale between Mount Sion
and Moriah begins, called the Valley of Millo ; which
is much higher than that through which the Kedron
runs. There is a gentle ascent by it up to the city
walls; and going into this ravine about a hundred
* Chateaubria; d, vol. ii. pp. 101, 102.
160 PALESTIN E ; OR,
paces, you come to the pool of Siloam. “The entrance
of it is towards the city; and there is a descent by
several steps to a pool about twenty feet wide, fifty-
five feet long, and ten feet deep from the stairs, having
a bench on each side of it, and eight pillars. The water
runs into it from a channel cut under the rock, and
they say comes from the Temple and other parts
where they wash, and therefore is not fit to be drunk.
Possibly this might be the pool of Bethesda, which may
be the same as that which Nehemiah says was the
pool that was made, and Josephus calls the pool of
Solomon.” Maundrell, referring apparently to the
same spot, says: “When we were there, a tanner
made no scruple to dress his hides in it.”
It seems difficult to recognize in this description,
Siloa's brook that flowed
Fast by the oracle of God.
Chateaubriand speaks of the fountain and pool of
Siloam as at the foot of Mount Zion, and says: “The
spring issues from a rock, and runs in a silent streami,
according to the testimony of Jeremiah, which is con-
tradicted by a passage in St. Jerome.” The French
author does not say which testimony he considers the
most to be relied on. He adds : “ It has a kind of
ebb and flood, sometimes discharging its current like
the fountain of Vaucluse, at others retaining and
scarcely suffering it to run at all. The water of the
spring is brackish, and has a very disagreeable taste.”
Dr. Richardson’s description is more distinct, but still
less consistent with Pococke’s. After noticing “ the
well of Nehemiah,” ” which is described as an ordi-
nary-sized deep well, provided with tolerably good
water, at the south-east corner of Mount Zion, at
* Pococke found it, by a plummet, to be 122 feet deep, and the
water was 88 feet high ; they told him that sometimes it overflowed.
THE HOLY LAN D. 161
the entrance of the valley of Santa Saba (or Jehosha-
phat)—he represents the pool of Siloam as occurring
higher up the valley, towards the north, a little
beyond the village of Siloa, and nearly opposite the
tombs of Jehoshaphat and Zachariah. “This pool.”
he says, “receives a strong current of water by a
subterraneous passage cut in the north side of Mount
Zion, and which seems as if it came by a conduit cut
through the rock from the pool of Hezekiah, on the
west side of the city. This pool is also called the
fountain of the stairs. A flight of sixteen steps leads
down to a platform, and another flight of thirteen
steps leads down to the water, which is fresh and good.
The passage by which the water comes out, has
obviously been formed by art, and is so large that a
person, by stooping a little, may walk along it under
the mountain. The water is about three feet deep,
and seems to be stagnant in the pool ; but there is a
considerable stream constantly flowing from it, by
a passage which is also cut in the rock for a good
way down, and goes to water the gardens on the
lower slopes of Mount Zion. There are the remains
of a Christian church that once adorned the entrance
to this pool, which, like the fountain of Castalia or
the spring of Arethusa, seems in days of yore to have
been treated with signal respect.” The spring, how-
ever, rises within the city, at no great distance from
the Latin convent.*
On comparing these varying accounts with Dr.
Richardson's ichnographical plan of Jerusalem, it
should seem that what Pococke has taken for the
Virgin's well, yet conjectures to be the ancient foun-
tain of Siloa, is the same as Dr. Richardson and
* Travels, vol. ii. pp. 5, , 3; 8.
162 PALESTINE ; OR,
Chateaubriand correctly describe under the latter
appellation ; while Pococke’s pool of Siloam, which
he is disposed to identify with the ancient pool of
Bethesda, is the same as Dr. R. calls, in his plan, the
King's pool, though he has not described it in the
text. Concerning the Virgin's claim to either foun-
tain he is silent. Maundrell agrees with Richardson
as to the situation of the supposed well of Nehemiah ;
“so called because reputed to be the same place from
which that restorer of Israel recovered the fire of
the altar, after the Babylonish captivity, (2 Macc.
i. 19).” He places it at the entrance of the valley of
Jehoshaphat, near the (white mulberry) tree supposed
to mark the place where Isaiah was sawn asunder
by order of Manasseh — another senseless legend.
The pool of Siloam (Dr. Richardson's King's pool)
he places a hundred paces higher (northward), on the
same side; and the fountain of the Blessed Virgin
(the real pool of Siloam) about , a furlong further.
Pococke has probably been misled by this in general
accurate traveller.” Over against this latter fountain,
on the other side of the valley, is the small and com-
fortless village now called Siloa ; consisting, according
to Richardson, of small huts, partly built and partly
dug in the rock ; but, according to Pococke, who was
shewn every thing in this part by the sheikh of Siloa,
of a great number of grottoes, some of which have
porticoes, and are adorned with the plain Egyptian
* Chateaubriand places the fountain of Siloa at the foot of
Mount Zion. He says: “ The pool, or rather the two pools
of the same name, are quite close to the spring ; they are still
used for washing linen as formerly.” At the foot of the village
Siloa, he places “ the fountain Rogel,” and opposite to this,
“ a third which receives its name from the Blessed Virgin.”
This fountain, he says, mingles its stream with the ſountain of
Siloah.
THE HOLY L.A. N. D. 163
cornice : “they call it a village,” he says, “because
these grots are now inhabited by Arabs, but they
seem to be ancient sepulchres.”
Southward of this village, and nearly facing the
valley or ravine which runs to the south of Mount
Zion, there rises from the bed of the Siloa, a moun-
tain which appears to have been neither named nor
examined by any of our travellers. Proceeding along
the ravine, the traveller has on his left hand the
elevation which the old travellers denominate the
Hill of Evil Counsel, and which Dr. Clarke, with more
ingenuity than accuracy, attempts to identify with the
Zion of Scripture. It is described by Dr. Richardson
as a low rocky flat, the termination of the high ground
which lies to the south-west of Jerusalem, and con-
sequently not a separate hill, as Zion was ; it is,
moreover, of inferior elevation to Mount Zion, which
would of itself negative Dr. Clarke's hypothesis, and
could with ease have been approached from the west.
It never would have been chosen, therefore, as the
site of a citadel. Whereas Mount Zion has a ravine
on three of its sides, while the Tyropaeon running in
a transverse direction, separated it from the hill sus-
taining the lower city.
On this high ground, Sandys noticed the relics of
no mean buildings. Dr. Richardson says, it contains
the remains of a ruined village, which is generally
called the Casa di Mal Consiglio, or Hill of Evil
Counsel; because here, it is said, the Pharisees took
counsel against Jesus to put him to death. No tra-
veller appears to have explored it. About half-way
down the ravine, which has been generally mistaken
for the valley of Hinnom, on the side of the mountain,
is what is called Aceldama, Campo Santo, and the
Potter's Field. “In the midst hereof,” says Sandys,
164 PALESTINE, OR,
“a large square room was made by the mother of
Constantine, the south side walled with the natural
rock, flat at the top, and equal with the upper level,
out of which arise certain little cupolas, open in the
midst to let down the dead bodies. Through these
we might see the bottom all covered with bones, and
certain corses but newly let down, it being now the
sepulchre of the Armenians. A greedy grave, and
great enough to devour the dead of a whole nation.
For they say, and I believe it, that the earth thereof,
within the space of eight and forty hours, will com-
sume the flesh that is laid thereon.” Pococke men-
tions the same supposed sarcophagous virtue in the
earth. He describes it as an oblong cavern, about
twenty-six paces long, by twenty broad, and seem-
ingly about twenty deep. The dead are stripped and
thrown in naked in heaps, as at Naples, Palermo, and
other places. Through the orifices, both Maundrell
and Dr. Richardson say, the bodies are to be seen in
all the stages of decomposition. “From which,”
shrewdly remarks the former, “it may be conjectured
that this grave does not make that quick despatch
with the corpses committed to it, which is commonly
reported.”
Beyond this, the sepulchres begin, which extend
along the side of the ravine to the south-west and
west of Mount Zion, and which, like those in the
valley of Jehoshaphat, are grottoes or excavations in
the rock. Of these, Dr. Clarke has given the fullest
description. He recognised them as similar to those
which he had seen in the ruins of Telmessus in the
gulf of Glaucus, and as answering to Shaw’s account
of the crypta of Laodicea, Jebilee, and Tortosa. They
are described as a series of subterranean chambers,
“ hewn with marvellous art, each containing one or
THE HOLY L.A. N. D. 1.65
many repositories for the dead, like cisterns carved
in the rock, upon the sides of these chambers.”
The doors are so low, that, to look into any one of
them, it is necessary to stoop, and, in some instances,
to creep on hands and knees. These doorways are
grooved for the reception of immense stones, squared
and fitted to the grooves, which once closed the
entrance. “Of such a nature, indisputably,” adds
the learned traveller, “were the tombs of the sons
of Heth, of the kings of Israel, of Lazarus, and of
Christ.” Upon all these sepulchres there are inscrip-
tions in Hebrew and in Greek. The Hebrew, which
are by the side of the doors, are so effaced, that it
is difficult to make any tolerable copy ; they appear
to have been designedly obliterated by being covered
with some chalky substance.* The Greek inscriptions
are more legible: they consist of large letters deeply
carved on the face of the rock, but only contain the
words, “Of the holy Zion.” Dr. Richardson con-
siders them to be of modern date and apocryphal
authority; but agrees with Dr. Clarke that these are,
in all probability, the sepulchres of the city of David,
referred to Nehem, iii. 16. It is remarkable, that
there are no tombs in the side of the ravine on which
the city stands: these were clearly out of the city,
and here it would have been more rational to fix
upon a site for the holy sepulchre. But “neither the
Apostles nor the early Christians appear to have had
any regard whatever for the sepulchre of our Lord.
It is not once mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles,
or in any of the Epistles. The Apostle Paul, in all
* One which Dr. Clarke copied, exhibited a mixture of Hebrew
and the arrow-headed character, and is supposed to be Arabic, as
the mode of writing corresponds to that used by Arabian Jews in
their inscriptions on the hills near Jerusalem.
166 1-ALESTINE, OR,
his visits to the Holy City, in all his meetings with the
Christians, never once names Calvary, or the sepulchre
of Christ. The minds of these holy men seem to
have been solely intent on the spread of the Gospel.
In all their forcible appeals to the hearts and under-
standings of their hearers, the birth, death, and resur-
rection of Christ, are constantly mentioned, but the
places where these glorious events occurred, are never
referred to. Having satisfied themselves that the body
of the Messiah did not remain in the tomb after the
third day, they ceased to frequent it, or to seek the
living among the dead.” +
The only other object of interest in the ravine on
the west of the city, besides these sepulchres, is the
large square cistern, mentioned by Dr. Richardson as
a little to the south of the Jaffa gate ; evidently
of Jewish workmanship. Pococke describes it as a
basin about 250 paces long and 100 broad. “The
bottom is very narrow, and the rock on each side
appears like steps. This basin is made by building
a wall across the valley. It is commonly called the
pool of Bathsheba,f but seems to be the lower pool .
of Gihon. It is generally dry, but probably was
designed to receive not only the rain waters, but also
the superfluous waters from the upper pool of Gihon.
(See 2 Chron. xxxii. 30.) At the north end of it is
a causeway, which leads to the road to Bethlehem.
There is a channel on it from Solomon’s aqueduct,
which supplies a cistern on each side of the causeway,
and one at the end of it, where there is plenty of
water. Above this, the valley is not so deep, but
capable of receiving a great quantity of water. About
* Richardson’s Travels, vol. ii. p 338.
# There is another pool of Bathsheba' within the city, near
the Jaffa gato
T H E [HO LY LAN D. I 67
100 paces to the north, the aqueduct from Solomon's
pool crosses the vale, the water running part of the
way on nine arches, from four to six feet high : it is
then conveyed round the hill on the west side of
Mount Zion, and so round to the city and temple by
a covered channel under ground. Nearly a mile to
the N.N.W. is the pool of Gihon, which I suppose to
be the upper pool. It is a very large basin, and, if
I mistake not, is cut down about ten feet into the
rock, there being a way down to it by steps. It was
almost dry at that time, and seems designed to receive
the rain waters which come from the hills about it.
There is a canal from the pool to the city, which is
uncovered part of the way, and, it is said, goes to the
pool in the streets near the holy sepulchre; and when
there is a great plenty of water, it runs to the pool
already mentioned, to the west of the city. For the
design of these pools seems to have been to receive
the rain water for the common uses of the city, and
even to drink in case of necessity. The fountain of
Gihon probably arose either in the upper pool, or out
of the high ground above it.” +
The situation of Jerusalem, then, appears to have
been by no means disadvantageous in respect to the
supply of water. There were probably wells, besides
that of Nehemiah, both within and without the city,
which are now filled up or dry; and, besides these,
the pools and aqueducts, together with the little
stream of Kedron, must have been amply sufficient,
not only to supply the wants of the population, but
to serve the purpose of irrigation, on which, in this
climate, the fertility of the soil depends. It is very
probable, that the subterraneous passage which has
* Travels, book i, chap. 6.
| 8 PALESTIN E ; OR,
its outlet in the pool of Siloam, and which Dr.
Richardson describes as a conduit cut in the rock
from the pool of Hezekiah above described, on the
west side of the city, was formerly partly open,
running in the line of the Tyropaeon, or valley of
Cheesemongers, described by Josephus as separating
the upper from the lower city, and terminating at
the pool of Siloam.
MOUNT OLIVET.
HAVING now completed the circuit of the city, we
have yet to ascend Mount Olivet ; that consecrated
hill from which the Redeemer of the world looked
down on the guilty city,+on the scene of his passion
and crucifixion, — and predicted the destruction of
Jerusalem ; that hill, from the summit of which he
afterwards ascended, in the sight of his disciples, “far
above all heavens.”
The Mount of Olives forms part of a ridge of lime-
stone hills, extending to the north and the south-west.
Pococke describes it as having four summits. On the
lowest and most northerly of these, which, he tells us,
is called Sulman Tashy, the stone of Solomon, there is
a large domed sepulchre, and several other Moham-
medan tombs. The ascent to this point, which is
to the north-east of the city, he describes as very
gradual, through pleasant corn-fields planted with
olive-trees. The second summit is that which over-
looks the city : the path to it rises from the ruined
gardens of Gethsemane, which occupy part of the
valley. About half-way up the ascent is a ruined
monastery, built, as the monks tell us, on the spot
where our Saviour wept over Jerusalem. From this
point, the spectator enjoys, perhaps, the best view of
THE HOLY LAND. 169
the Holy City. On reaching the summit, an ex-
tensive view is obtained towards the east, embracing
the fertile plain of Jericho, watered by the Jordan,
and the Dead Sea, enclosed by mountains of con-
siderable grandeur. Here there is a small village,
surrounded by some tolerable corn-land.” This sum-
mit is not relatively high, and would more properly be
termed a hill, than a mountain : it is not above two
miles distant from Jerusalem. At a short distance
from the summit is shewn the supposed print of our
Saviour's left foot—Chateaubriand says the mark of
the right was once visible, and Bernard de Breiden-
bach saw it, in 1483—this is the spot fixed upon by
the mother of Constantine, as that from which our
Lord ascended, and over which she accordingly erected
a church and monastery, the ruins of which still re-
main. Pococke describes the building which was
standing in his time, as a small Gothic chapel, round
within, and octagon without, and tells us that it was
converted into a mosque. The Turks, for a stipu-
lated sum, permit the Christian pilgrims to take an
impression of the foot-print in wax or plaster, to
carry home. “Twice,” says Dr. Richardson, “I
visited this memorable spot, and each time it was
crowded with devout pilgrims, taking casts of the
holy vestige. They had to purchase permission of the
Turks ; but, had it not been in the possession of the
Turks, they would have had to purchase it from the
more mercenary and not less merciless Romans or
Greeks.” On Ascension eve, the Christians come and
encamp in the court, and that night they “perform
* This seems to be the vil’age which Pococke supposes to be the
site of Bethphage : he describes it as about half a mile from ‘the
summit of the Ascension,' before you come to Bethany by that road.
IPART I. L
l 70 PALESTINE ; OR,
the offices of the Ascension.” Here, however, as with
regard to Calvary and almost all the supposed sacred
places, superstition has blindly followed the blind.
That this is not the place of the Ascension, is certain
from the words of St. Luke, who says that our Lord
led out his disciples “as far as Bethany, and lifted up
his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass,
while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and
carried up to heaven.” Acts i.
Bethany is a small village to the east of the Mount
of Olives, on the road to Jericho, not further from
Jerusalem than the pinnacle of the hill. There are
two roads to it; one passes over the Mount of Olives;
the other, which is the shorter and easier, winds
round the eastern end, having the greater part of the
hill on the north or left hand, and on the right the
elevation called by some writers the Mount of Offence,
which is, however, very little above the level of the
valley of Jehoshaphat. The village of Bethany is
small and poor, and the cultivation of the soil is much
neglected; but it is a pleasant and somewhat romantic
spot, sheltered by Mount Olivet on the north, and
abounding with trees and long grass. The inhabitants
are Arabs. Here they shew the ruins of a sort of
castle as the house of Lazarus, and a grotto as his
tomb, which, of course, is much frequented by pil-
grims. On the eminence above is a small Turkish
mosque. The house of Simon the leper, of Mary
Magdalene, and of Martha, who, it seems, did not
reside with her brother, and the identical fig-tree
which our Lord cursed, are among the monkish
curiosities of the place.
The third summit of the hill is further towards
the south. Here Pococke noticed two heaps of ruins,
THE HOLY L.A. N. D. | 7 |
one of which, the Arabs told him, had been a convent
of Armenians. The fourth summit, still further
south, had also an Armenian convent : it was called,
he says, by the Arabs, Gorek-Nertebet.
Dr. Clarke has described some subterranean cham-
bers on the highest summit of Mount Olivet, which
are not noticed by any preceding traveller. One of
them, he says, has the shape of a cone of immense
size, the vertex alone appearing level with the soil,
and exhibiting a small circular aperture like the
mouth of a well ; the sides extending below to a great
depth. These were lined with a hard, red stucco,
like the substance covering the walls of the subterra-
nean galleries in the Isle of Aboukir, Dr. Clarke calls
this place a crypt and a subterranean pyramid, and
supposes it may have been appropriated to the idola-
trous worship of Ashtaroth at an early period of the
Jewish history, and subsequently made a receptacle
for the bones of men.
The olive is still found growing in patches at the
foot of the mount to which it gives its name ; and
“as a spontaneous produce, uninterruptedly resulting
from the original growth of this part of the mountain,
it is impossible,” says Dr. Clarke, “to view even
these trees with indifference.” Titus cut down all
the wood in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem ; but
there would seem to have been constantly springing
up a succession of these hardy trees. “It is truly
a curious and interesting fact,” adds the learned
traveller, “ that, during a period of little more than
two thousand years, Hebrews, Assyrians, Romans,
Moslems, and Christians, have been successively in
possession of the rocky mountains of Palestine ; yet,
the olive still vindicates its paternal soil, and is found,
at this day, upon the same spot which was called by
17.2 PALESTINE ; OR,
the Hebrew writers Mount Olivet and the Mount of
Olives, eleven centuries before the Christian era.” +
The valley of Jehoshaphat, which lies between this
mountain and the hills on which Jerusalem is built,
is still used as a burial-place by the modern Jews, as
it was by their ancestors. It is, generally speaking,
a rocky flat, with a few patches of earth here and
there, about half a mile in breadth from the Kedron
to the foot of Mount Olivet, and nearly of the same
length from Siloa to the garden of Gethsemane. It
is filled with tombs every where dug in the rock, some
of them large, indicating the superior condition of
their ancient possessors, but the greater part are small
and of the ordinary size. Many of the stones are
covered with Hebrew inscriptions; and, to the learned
in Rabbinical lore, this ancient grave-yard would fur-
nish an interesting field for investigation. The Jews
have a tradition, evidently founded on taking literally
the passage Joel iii. 12, that this narrow valley will
be the scene of the Final Judgment. The prophet
Jeremiah evidently refers to the same valley under the
name of the valley of the Son of IIinnom, or the valley
of Tophet, the situation being clearly marked as being
by the entry of the east gate.t
[3 ETHLEHEM.
FROM the scene of our Lord's crucifixion and
ascension, the pilgrim proceeds to visit the place of
his nativity. There are two roads from Jerusalem to
* 2 Sam. xv. 30. Zech. xiv. 4.
f Jer. xix. 2, 6. Pococke places the valley of Hinnom to the
south of Jerusalem, but thinks it might include part of that to the
east. It formed part of the bound between the tribes of Benja-
min and Judah (Jos. xv. 8. xviii. 16.) but the description is some-
what obscure.
， ， ， ， ， ， ，
， ， ， ，
----
.

T H E HOLY L.A. N. D. 173
Bethlehem. That which is used at present is the
shortest; the old road is more to the west. Passing
out of the Jaffa gate, the traveller turns to the left,
and, descending the sloping bank into the ravine,
leaves on his right the pool of Hezekiah ; he then
ascends the rocky flat on the other side, and proceeds,
in a south-west direction, over rocky and barren
ground, exhibiting, in a few cultivated patches, some
scanty crops of grain, and, in other parts, a covering
of grass and wild flowers. The first part of the road
possesses little interest. The ruined tower of Simeon,
the Greek monastery of Elias, and the tomb of Rachel,
are pointed out by the guides : the last is a Turkish
oratory with a rounded top, like the whitened sepul-
chre of an Arab sheikh, and the Turks are said to
have a superstitious regard for the spot as a burial-
place. Dr. Clarke describes the first view of Bethle-
hem as imposing. The town appears covering the
ridge of a hill on the southern side of a deep and
extensive valley, and reaching from east to west. The
most conspicuous object is the monastery erected over
the supposed “Cave of the Nativity;” its walls and
battlements have the air of a large fortress. Front
this same point, the Dead Sea is seen below on the
left, seemingly very near, “but,” says Sandys, “not
so found by the traveller ; for these high, declining
mountains are not to be directly descended.” The
road winds round the top of a valley which tradition
has fixed on as the scene of the angelic vision which
announced the birth of our Lord to the shepherds ;
but differents spots have been selected, the Romish
authorities not being agreed on this head.
Bethlehem, the ancient Ephrath, or Ephrata, (called
in the New Testament Bethlehem Ephrata and Bethle-
hem of Judea, to distinguish it from Bethlehem of
I. 2
174 PALESTIN E ; OR,
Zabulon,) is situated on a rising ground, about two
hours’ distance, or not quite six miles from Jerusalem.
Here the traveller meets with a repetition of the same
puerilities and disgusting mummery which he has
witnessed at the church of the sepulchre. “ The
stable,” to use the words of Pococke, “ in which our
Lord was born, is a grotto cut out of the rock, ac-
cording to the eastern custom.” It is astonishing
to find so intelligent a writer as Dr. Clarke, gravely
citing St. Jerome, who wrote in the fifth century,
as an authority for the truth of the absurd legend
by which the “Cave of the Nativity” is supposed
to be identified. The ancient tombs and excavations
are occasionally used by the Arabs as places of shelter; .
but the Gospel narrative affords no countenance to the
notion that the Virgin took refuge in any cave of this
description. On the contrary, it was evidently a
manger belonging to the inn or khan : in other words,
the upper rooms being wholly occupied, the holy
family were compelled to take up their abode in the
court allotted to the mules and horses, or other ani-
mals, To suppose that the inn, or the stable, whether
attached to the inn or not, was a grotto, is to outrage
common sense. But the New Testament was not the
guide which was followed by the mother of Constan-
time, to whom the original church owed its foundation.
The present edifice is represented by Chateaubriand as
of undoubtedly high antiquity; yet Doubdan, an old
traveller, says that the monastery was destroyed in the
year 1263 by the Moslems; and in its present state,
at all events, it cannot lay claim to a higher date.
The convent is divided among the Greek, Roman, and
Armenian Christians, to each of whom separate parts
are assigned as places of worship and habitations for
the monks ; but, on certain days, all may perform
T H E II O LY LAN D. 1 75
their dev ptions at the altars erected over the conse-
crated spots. The church is built in the form of a
cross; the nave being adorned with forty-eight Co-
rinthian columns in four rows, each column being two
feet six inches in diameter, and eighteen feet high,
including the base and the capital. “As the roof of
the nave is wanting, the columns support nothing
but a frieze of wood, which occupies the place of the
architrave and the whole entablature. Open timber-
work rests on the walls, and rises into the form of a
dome to support a roof that no longer exists, or that
perhaps was never finished.” “ The remains of some
paintings on wood and in mosaic, are here and there to
be seen, exhibiting figures “in full face, upright and
stiff, but having a majestic effect.” The nave, which
is in possession of the Armenians, is separated from
the three other branches of the cross by a wall, so that
the unity of the edifice is destroyed. The top of the
cross is occupied by the choir, which belongs to the
Greeks. Here is “ an altar dedicated to the Wise .
Men of the East,” at the foot of which is a marble
star, corresponding, as the monks say, to the point of
the heavens where the miraculous meteor became sta-
tionary, and directly over the spot where the Saviour
was born in the subterranean church below . A flight
of fifteen steps, and a long narrow passage, conduct to
the sacred crypt or grotto of the Nativity, which is
thirty-seven feet six inches long, by eleven feet three
inches in breadth, and nine feet high. It is lined and
floored with marble, and provided on each side with
five oratories, “answering precisely to the ten cribs
or stalls for horses that the stable in which our Saviour
was born contained.” The precise spot of the birth is
* Chateaubriand's Travels, vol. i. p. 393.
| 76 PALESTINE, OR,
marked by a glory in the floor, composed of marble
and jasper enriched with silver, around which are
inscribed the words, Hic de Pirgine Maria Jesus
Christus natus est. Over it is a marble table or altar,
which rests against the side of the rock, here cut into
an arcade. The manger is at the distance of seven
paces from the altar; it is in a low recess hewn out of
the rock, to which you descend by two steps, and
fonsists of a block of marble, raised about a foot and a
half above the floor, and hollowed out in the form of
a manger. Before it is the altar of the Magi. The
chapel is illuminated by thirty-two lamps, presented
by different princes of Christendom. Chateaubriand
has described the scene in his usual florid and ima-
ginative style.
“Nothing can be more pleasing, or better calcu-
lated to excite devotional sentiments, than this sub-
terraneous church. It is adorned with pictures of the
Italian and Spanish schools, which represent the
mysteries of the place. The usual ornaments of the
manger are of blue satin, embroidered with silver.
Incense is continually burning before the cradle of our
Saviour. I have heard an organ, touched by no ordi-
nary hand, play during mass, the sweetest and most
tender tunes of the hest Italian composers. These
concerts charm the Christian Arab, who, leaving his
camels to feed, repairs, like the shepherds of old, to
Bethlehem, to adore the King of kings in the manger.
I have seen this inhabitant of the Desert communicate
at the altar of the Magi, with a fervour, a piety, a
devotion, unknown among the Christians of the West.
The continual arrival of caravans from all the nations
of Christendom ; the public prayers; the prostrations;
nay, even the richness of the presents sent here by
the Christian princes, altogether produce feelings in
THE HOLY LA N D. 177
the soul, which it is much easier to conceive than to
describe.” + -
Such are the illusions which the Roman super-
stition casts over this extraordinary scene. But this
is not the whole of the pious show. In another sub-
terraneous chapel, tradition places the sepulchre of
“ the Innocents.” From this, the pilgrim is con-
ducted to the grotto of St. Jerome, where they shew
the tomb of that father, (although his relics were
translated to Rome,) that of Eusebius, and those of
Santa Paula and her son, St. Eustachius.f. This
pious Roman lady owes the high distinction of having
her tomb in this consecrated place, to having built and
endowed several monasteries in the neighbourhood,
all of which are now in ruins. St. Jerome passed
great part of his life in this place; and in the grotto
shewn as his oratory, is said to have translated that
version of the Bible which has been adopted by the
Church of Rome, and is called the Vulgate. He died
at the advanced age of 91, A.D. 422.
The village of Bethlehem contains about 300 in-
habitants, the greater part of whom gain their liveli.
hood by making beads, carving mother-of-pearl shells
with sacred subjects, and manufacturing small tables
and crucifixes, all which are eagerly purchased by the
pilgrims. The monks of Bethlehem claim also the
exclusive privilege of marking the limbs and bodies of
the devotees with crosses, stars, and monograms, by
means of gunpowder; a practice borrowed from the
customs of heathenism, and noticed by Virgil and
Pomponius Mela.; Pococke says: “It is remarkable
* Travels in Greece, Palestine, &c., vol. i. p. 396.
t Chateaubriand says, “ St. Paul and St. Eustochium, two
illustrious Roman ladies.” The latter was the son.
* AEmeid. lib. iv. ver, 146. Pomp. Mela. lib. xxi.
178 PALESTINE ; OR,
that the Christians at Jerusalem, Bethlehem, St.
John’s, and Nazareth, are worse than any other
Christians. I was informed that the women of Beth-
lehem are very good; whereas those at Jerusalem are
worse than the men, who are generally better there
than at the other places. This may be occasioned by
the great converse which the women have there with
those of their own sex who go thither as pilgrims; and
I will not venture to say, whether too great a fami-
liarity with those places in which the sacred mysteries
of our Redemption were acted, may not be a cause to
take off from the reverence and awe which they should
have for them, and lessen the influence they ought to
have on their conduct.”
At about an hour's distance to the south of Beth-
lehem, are the pools of Solomon. They are three in
number, of an oblong figure, and are supported by
abutments. The antiquity of their appearance entitles
them, Dr. Richardson thinks, to be considered as the
work of the Jewish monarch : “ like every thing
Jewish,” he says, “they are more remarkable for
strength than for beauty.” They are situated at the
south end of a small valley, and are so disposed on the
sloping ground, that the waters of the uppermost may
descend into the second, and those of the second into
the third. That on the west is nearest the source of
the spring, and is about 480 feet long ; the second is
about 600 feet in length, and the third about 660;
the breadth of all three being nearly the same, about
270 feet.* They are lined with a thick coat of plaster,
and are capable of containing a great quantity of
water, which they discharge into a small aqueduct
that conveys it to Jerusalem. This aqueduct is built
* Maundrell says, ninety paces broad ; their length 160, 200, and
220 paces.
TH ſº I HO [..Y LAN ID. | 79
on a foundation of stone : the water runs through
round earthen pipes, about ten inches in diameter,
which are cased with two stones, hewn out so as to fit
hem, and they are covered over with rough stones,
well cemented together. The whole is so much sunk
into the ground on the side of the hill round which it
is carved, that in many places nothing is to be seen of
it. In time of war, however, this aqueduct could be
of no service to Jerusalem, as the communication
could be easily cut off. The fountain which supplies
these pools, is at about the distance of 140 paces from
them. “ This,” says Maundrell, “the friars will have
to be that sealed fountain to which the holy spouse is
compared, Cant. iv. 12.” And he represents it to
have been by no means difficult to seal up these
springs, as they rise under ground, and have no other
avenue than a little hole, “like to the mouth of a
narrow well.”—“Through this hole you descend
directly down, but not without some difficulty, for
about four yards ; and then arrive in a vaulted room
fifteen paces long and eight broad. Joining to this, is
another room of the same fashion, but somewhat less.
Both these rooms are covered with handsome stone
arches, very ancient, and perhaps the work of Solo-
mon himself. You find here four places at which the
water rises. From these separate sources it is con-
veyed by little rivulets into a kind of basin, and from
thence is carried by a large subterraneous passage
down into the pools. In the way, before it arrives at
the pools, there is an aqueduct of brick pipes, which
receives part of the stream, and carries it by many
turnings and windings to Jerusalem. Below the pools,
here runs down a narrow rocky valley enclosed on
both sides with high mountains. This the friars will
180 PALESTIN E ; OR,
have to be “the enclosed garden” alluded to in the
same place of the Canticles. As to the pools, it is
probable enough they may be the same with Solo-
Inon's ; there not being the like store of excellent
spring-water to be met with any where else through-
out Palestine. But, for the gardens, one may safely
affirm, that if Solomon made them in the rocky ground
which is now assigned for them, he demonstrated
greater power and wealth in finishing his design, than
wisdom in choosing the place for it.””
This is supposed to have been the Etam, Etham, or
Epham of the Scriptures. Josephus says, that there
were very pleasant gardens, abounding with water, at
Etham, about fifty furlongs, or a little more than six
miles from Jerusalem, to which Solomon used to
resort; † and the Talmudists mention that the waters
from the fountain of Epham were brought to Jeru-
salem by Solomon.} Etam is mentioned in con-
nexion with Bethlehem and Tekoa, as one of the
cities built by Rehoboam : || it was therefore, doubt-
less, in this neighbourhood. If any stress could be
laid on the monkish traditions, the ruined village on
the side of the hill below the aqueduct, still bears the
name of the village of Solomon. Altogether, it is highly
reasonable to conclude, that this was the site of one of
king Solomon’s houses of pleasure, where he made him
“gardens, and orchards, and pools of water.” $
Tekoa is stated by Pococke to be about six miles
to the south of Bethlehem. There are considerable
ruins, he says, on the top of the hill, which is about
half a mile long and a furlong broad. At the north-
east corner are ruins of remains of a large castle,
* Maundrell. + Josephus, Antiq. lib. viii. cap. 7.
f Reland, cited by Pococke. | 2 Chron. xi. 6. Eccl. ii. 5, §
THE HOLY LAND. - 181
“ which some call a church ; but that,” he says,
“ seems to have been about the middle of the hill.
In it there is a deep octagon font of red and white
marble : I saw also in several parts, pieces of broken
pillars of the same kind of marble.” These remains
are possibly as ancient as the time of the Crusades.
as tradition has perpetuated the name of the Frankish
conquerors in this neighbourhood. The hill affords a
view of the Dead Sea to the south-east, of Bethlehem
to the north-west, and of the Mount of Bethulia to
the west-north-west. Towards the north-west corner
of the hill, a little below the top, is a grotto or cave,
in which “there is a fountain that never fails.” On
another elevation, about a mile to the south, are the
ruins of a large church, “ dedicated to St. Panta-
leone ; ” and to the east of Tekoa, on the side of
another steep hill, Pococke lodged in a ruined castle,
to which he gives the name of Creightoun. “A little
beyond this place, the valley runs east and west; and
on the right hand is a very large grotto, which the
Franks call a labyrinth, and the Arabs El Maama,
or the hiding-place. The high rocks on the side
of the valley are almost perpendicular, and the way
to the grotto is by a terrace formed in the rock,
which, either by art or nature, is very narrow. The
rock is supported by great natural pillars; the top
rises in several parts like domes. The grotto is per-
fectly dry ; and there are no petrifactions or stalactites
in it. We went along a very narrow passage for
a considerable way, but did not find the end. There
is a tradition, that the people of the country, to the
number of 30,000, retired into this grotto to avoid
a bad air; which probably might have been the hot
winds that are sometimes very fatal in these countries.
This place is so strong, that one would imagine it
PART II. M
182 PALESTINE ; OR,
to be one of the strong holds at Engaddi, to which
David with his men fled from Saul; and possibly it
may be that very cave in which he cut off Saul's skirt;
for David and his men might with great ease have lain
hid here, and not have been seen by him. Beyond
this cave there is a spring of water that drops from
the rocks.” -
The Mountain of the Franks, called also the Mount
of Bethulia, from a village of that name near it,
(though no such place is mentioned by ancient authors
as in this part of Palestine,) is “a single hill, very
high : the top appears like a large mount formed
by art. The hill is laid out in terraces, the first
rising about ten yards above the foot of the hill :
above this the hill is very steep, and on one side
there is a gentle ascent made by art. As the hill was
not so steep to the south, they cut a deep fosse on
that side, to add a greater strength to it : the foot of
the hill was encompassed with a wall. There was a
double circular fortification at top ; the inner wall
was defended by one round tower, and three semi-
circular ones at equal distances, the first being towards
the east. At the foot of the hill, to the north, there
are great ruins of a church and other buildings. On
a hanging-ground to the west of them, there is a
cistern, and the basin of a square pond, which appears
to have had an island in the middle of it, and pro-
bably there was some building on it. These improve-
ments were also encompassed with a double wall; and
they say, that there are remains of two aqueducts to it,
one from the sealed fountain of Solomon, and another
from the hills south of that fountain.” Dr. Pococke,
from whom this account is taken, conjectures, from
the relative position of this city, as near Tekoah, that
it is the ancient Bethhaccerem, mentioned by the
THE HOLY LAND. 183
prophet Jeremiah as the proper place for a beacon.
(Jer. vi. 1.) The works of the church, however, are
no doubt referrible to the time of the Frankish king-
dom of Jerusalem. The tradition which gives name
to the mountain, is, that the knights of Jerusalem
held this place forty years after the fall of the sacred
city. Captain Mangles says: “ The place is too small
ever to have contained even half the number of men
which would have been requisite to make any stand in
such a country; and the ruins, though they may be
those of a place once defended by Franks, appear to
have had an earlier origin, as the architecture seems
to be Roman.—We found it hollow on the top, with
walls round it, and four towers, all much in ruins.”
There can be little doubt that this is, in fact, one of
the works of Herod; and its distance seems to agree
with that of Herodium. That citadel was distant
from Jerusalem about sixty-furlongs. It was built on
“a sort of a moderate hill, raised to a further height
by the hand of man, till it was of the shape of a wo-
man’s breast. It is encompassed with circular towers,
and hath a straight ascent up to it.” Water was
brought thither from a great distance, and at a vast
expense, the place being destitute of water. All
which exactly answers to the description.*
All these places may be considered as in the imme-
diate vicinity of Jerusalem. Another excursion usually
taken by the traveller, is to
ST J CHN'S IN THE DESERT,
WHICH is computed to be about six miles to the
north-north-west of Bethlehem. The road from Beth-
lehem crosses the Valley of Rephaim. In about half
* Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiv, cap. 13, $9; lib. xv. cap. 9, § 4.
184 PALESTINE ; OR,
an hour, the traveller comes to a village called Boote-
shallah, a village of Greeks ; which for some time they
succeeded in keeping to themselves, by stoutly main-
taining that no Turk could live in it above two years.
Maundrell states, that no Turk was willing to stake
his life in experimenting the truth of it. But, a few
years before Dr. Pococke visited the place, three or
four of the inhabitants had become converts to the
Mahommedan religion, and yet had the courage to
continue in the village : thus destroying the conve-
nient spell. Nothing of interest occurs in this route,
unless it can be thought worth while to mention ano-
ther “Virgin’s Fountain,” and a village and fountain
of St. Philip, where, of course, the monks tell us he
baptized the Ethiopian eunuch. Dr. Richardson took
a different route to St. John's, as he went directly
from Jerusalem ; and we shall therefore avail ourselves
of his account, as furnishing a further illustration of
the immediate vicinity of the sacred city.
“I went out by the gate of Bethlehem, and turning
to the right, crossed the line of the ravine, and pro-
ceeded in a westerly direction. In about ten minutes
we came to a cistern, with very little water, said to be
the upper fountain of Gihon. It is dug in the rock,
in the same manner as the pools of Solomon beyond
Bethlehem, plastered within, and supported by but-
tresses, and is not much inferior to the smallest
of them in dimensions. Here we are informed that
Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, anointed
Solomon king over Israel. A small burial-ground lay
down to the left ; a flock of sheep were feeding
around ; their shepherd had taken his station on an
elevated rock, encompassed with ruins, that rises on
the right, to catch the beams of the morning sun, and
with his almost tuneless reed was toiling at a native
THE HOLY LAND. 185
air. It hardly required the vicinity of Jerusalem, the
Mount of Olives, or a recollection of the wisest of men,
to render this a most interesting scene. We proceeded
over the hill, and in about twenty minutes arrived at
the convent of the Holy Cross, which is pleasantly
situated on the edge of a deep ravine ; and there is a
hole under the great altar in the church, where the
tree grew of which the true cross was made. * This
convent, to the great annoyance of the Romish, is in
possession of the Greek monks.
“We next passed the tombs of the illustrious Mac-
cabees, situated on the summit of a lofty hill on our
right, and had a distant view of the interesting country
of Samuel the seer ; and in about an hour after leaving
the convent in Jerusalem, we arrived at the convent
of St. John. This monastery is built over the spot
where John the Baptist, the forerunner of our blessed
Saviour, was born. How this place came to be ascer-
tained as the birth-place of John I do not know.--
* “ This convent,” says Maundrell, “is very neat in its struc-
ture, and in its situation delightful. But that which most descrves
to be noted in it, is the reason of its name and foundation. It is
because here is the earth, that nourished the root, that bore the
tree, that yielded the timber, that made the cross. Under the high
altar you are shewn a hole in the ground where the stump of the
tree stood : and it meets with not a few visitants so much verier
stocks than itsclf, as to fall down and worship it.”
# The present Convent of St. John stands at about three fur-
longs' distance from the ruined convent shewn as the house of
Elizabeth. “If,” shrewdly remarks Maundrell, “ you chance to
ask, how it came to pass that Elizabeth lived in one house, when
she was with child, and in another when she brought him forth 2
the answer you are like to receive is, that the former was her coun-
try-house, the latter her city habitation ; and that it is no wonder
for a wife of one of the priests of better rank to be provided with
such variety.” The Convent of St. John had, at the time of his
visit (1696), been rebuilt from the ground within the preceding four
years. The church he speaks of as eminently beautiful, consisting
186 PALESTINE ; OR,
However, in the church belonging to the convent, we
read on the left of a splendid altar, the following
inscription : Hic praecursor Domini natus est—Here
the forerunner of the Lord was born. On the right is
the altar of Zacharias, and that of the Visitation. The
church is well proportioned, with a number of hand-
some columns, some tolerably good mosaic in the floor,
and a portrait of John the Baptist stuck up against
the wall; but it has a poor and deserted appearance,
as if its votaries were few, and but little concerned
about preserving its ancient grandeur. The situation,
however, is exceedingly pleasant ; the monks are
provided with excellent apartments, and the refectory
furnished me with a comfortable breakfast of coffee
and melted butter.
“The prospect from the top of the convent pre-
sented to the eye a small cultivated valley, with the
sides of the rising ground terraced, and planted with
the olive, the vine, and the fig-tree, and many indi-
cations that this species of agriculture had been at one
time much more extensive than at present. The lofty
Modin falls also within the range of vision ; it is
crowned with the ruined palace of the Maccabees, and
the burial-place of the same illustrious family.”
“Having examined this memorable spot, we pro-
ceeded through the village, crossed a small stream that
trickled along the valley, and wound our way over
a barren track, which industry has cultivated in
terraces, and which, though called the desert, is really
of three aisles, with a handsome cupola. Artificers were still em-
ployed on the convent; and yet, the friars gave out that not a stone
had been laid but cost them a dollar.
* Pococke says that this is a blunder; that Modin, where the
Maccabees were born and interred, was in the tribe of Dam. The
village on the hill is, he says, called Zuba. The tradition he re-
gards as unfounded.
THE HOLY LAND. 187
better cultivated, and more numerously inhabited, than
any part in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. Having
travelled about three-quarters of an hour in a north-
west direction, we came to a casale, or country village,
named Colonia, which lay down on our right. Small
fields of grain occur in different places; the olive, the
vine, and fig-trees abound ; and here, at least, the
desert may be said to bud and blossom like the rose.
About a quarter of an hour farther, and in the same
direction, but without any regular track to guide our
steps, we arrived, in company with a native of Colonia,
at the cave of St. John. It is situated on the edge of
a deep rocky ravine, abounding in trees, among which
are many of those called locust trees.” Close by the
cave there is a small fountain of fresh water, supplied
by a stream from the rock, and the ruins of a small
monastery that had been built over the early residence
of the messenger of Christ. A small cave, about ten
feet square, and the scattered fragments of a small
edifice, are all that remain to testify the splendour
with which the middle ages decorated this interesting
spot. The vicinity of a village, and the cultivation
consequent upon it, have taken away much of the
desert appearance which it once possessed ; for now, a
residence in this place would not be any greater ba-
nishment from the society of man, than in the neigh-
bourhood of any town or village in Judea.
“From the cave of St. John we descended the hill
in an easterly direction ; and, having crossed a culti-
* “The monuments,” justly remarks Maundrell, “ of the igno-
rance of the middle times.” The tree alluded to, called by Pococke
the caroub-tree, by others the carob, or St. John's bread, is the
ceratonia siliqua, an evergreen of the order polygamia dioecia. No-
thing but the consummate ignorance of the monks could have led
to the invention of this legend. Locusts are expressly mentioned
as lawful food, Levit. xi. 21, and are still eaten by the Arabs.
188 PALESTINE ; or,
vated valley, of a tolerable size for these parts, we
arrived in about twenty minutes at the place in the
Valley of Turpentine, which is recorded as the scene
of conflict between David and Goliath. Nothing can
be better described than, the ground occupied by the
two opposing armies is in the language of Scripture:
* And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered
together, and pitched by the Valley of Elah (Turpen-
time), and set the battle in array against the Philis-
tines ; and the Philistines stood on a mountain on
the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the
other side, and there was a valley between them.”
This valley is the Valley of Elah; it is a small valley,
and the place of their encampment is pointed out
where it narrows into a broad, deep ravine; part of it
was in crop, and part of it under the plough, which
was drawn by a couple of oxen. A small stream, which
had shrunk almost under its stony bed, passes through
it from east to west, from which we are informed
that David chose out five smooth stones, and hasted
and ran to meet the haughty champion of Gath. A
well of water under the bank, with a few olive-trees
above, on the north side of the valley, are said to mark
the spot of the shepherd's triumph over his boasting
antagonist. Saul and his men probably occupied the
side of the valley which is nearest to Jerusalem; on
which the ground is higher and more rugged than
on the other side, which was occupied by the Philis-
tines, who, after their defeat, retreated to Ekron ;
and David brought the head of the Philistine to Jeru-
salem. From Elah, we returned along a pleasant and
picturesque road to the convent of St. John, and thence
retraced our steps to Jerusalem, which we entered a
little before sun-set.”
The uncertainty, however, in which the topography
THE HOLY LAN D. 189
of Palestine has been involved by the misappropriation
of names of places, affords room to doubt every thing
that rests on monkish authority. This Vale of Elah,
which the Scripture narrative describes as lying be-
tween Shochoh and Azekah, Pococke makes to be much
further west. To identify the scene, it will only be
necessary to ascertain the site of those two ancient
towns: Azekah, we know, was between Beth-horon
and Bethlehem ; * and if the former be the same as
the modern Bethoor, the Terebinthine Vale, or Valley
of Elah, might seem to be correctly placed between
Bethoor and Bethlehem.
Besides the route generally taken by the pilgrims,
by way of Jericho and the Jordan, there is a mere
direct way to the Dead Sea by way of
SANTA SABA,
WHICH was taken by Dr. Pococke, and which crosses
the track from Jericho to Hebron.
“We went,” says the learned traveller, “to the
south-east,+ along the deep and narrow valley in which
the brook Kedron runs: it has high rocky hills on each
side, which are shaped into terraces, and doubtless
produced formerly both corn and wine; some of them
are cultivated even at this time. After travelling
about two miles, we passed by a village on a hill to the
right called Bethsaon, which is seem also from Beth-
lehem. This possibly might be the strong castle of
Bethsura, mentioned in the history of the Maccabees;:
though it is extraordinary that a place of such im-
* See Josh. x. 10, 11.
+ This must be inaccurate; and it is not a little remarkable, that
this learned and otherwise correct traveller is extremely apt to give
erroneous bearings, owing to some fault in the manner of his
taking his observations. f 2 Mace. xi. 5.
100 PALESTINE, OR,
portance, which was only five furlongs from Jerusalem,
should be mentioned in no other writings. About six
miles from Jerusalem we ascended a hill to the south,
from which we had a prospect of Sion, the Mount of
Olives, and Bethlehem. We soon came to a ruin
called Der Benalbede ; which, from the name, seems
to have been an old convent. We went about an
hour on the hills, and descending a little to the south,
came to a lower ground, where we had the first view
of St. Saba. Then turning east, in less than a mile
we arrived at that convent, which is situated in a very
extraordinary manner on the high rocks over the
brook Kedron. There are a great number of grottoes
about it, supposed to have been the retreats of hermits.
The monastic and hermits’ life was instituted here in
the fourth century by St. Saba. They say that there
have been 10,000 recluses here at one time ; and some
writers affirm that, in St. Saba’s time, there were
14,000. The monks of this convent never eat flesh ;
and they have such privileges, that no Mahommedan
can enter the convent, under the penalty of paying 500
dollars to the mosque of the Temple of Solomon.
There are some ruins of a building in the way down
to the brook Kedron, which probably are remains of
the novitiate for breeding up young men to the
monastic life, which is mentioned as belonging to the
convent. John Damascenus, Euphemius, and Cyril
the Monk of Jerusalem, lived in this retirement :
which is computed to be equally distant from Jerusa-
lem, Bethlehem, and the Dead Sea; that is, about
three hours from each of them.”
There are two other places in the environs of Jeru-
salem which remain to be noticed : Emmaus, which is
within two hours’ ride of the city, to the N.W. of
Modin, and Hebron, which is five hours to the S.W.
THE HOLY LAND. 191
of Bethlehem. The latter was formerly one of the
places regularly resorted to by the pilgrims; but so far
back as when Dr. Pococke was in Palestine, it was no
longer deemed safe to venture in its neighbourhood ;
it will, however, occur in the route to the Dead Sea.
Emmaus, according to Pococke, is now called by the
Arabs Coubeby, or Djebeby. It lies about three miles
to the W. of Rama, or Ramathaim-Zophim, the town
and burial-place of Samuel ; which still is called
Samuele by the Arabs, and contains a mosque erected
over the supposed sepulchre of the prophet. To the
right of the modern village of Emmaus, on a rising
ground, Dr. Pococke observed great ruins of the old
town, among which is a church, erected, as the reader
will anticipate, on the identical site of the house of
Cleophas. But there are here no objects of interest.
To the north of Samuele is a very fine valley, probably
the Valley of Ajalon, from which rise two hills; that
to the west has two summits, on the most northern of
which is a village called Geb, perhaps Gibeon.
An annual procession of pilgrims takes place after
the celebration of the Greek Easter, to the river
Jordan; and many proceed as far as the Dead Sea,
performing their ablutions in both. But we shall now
lay aside the cockle-shell and pilgrim’s weeds, and
take a final leave of the environs of the Holy City; as
in the tracts of country which it remains to explore,
to the west and south of Jerusalem, Quaresmius and
Doubdan, Sandys and Chateaubriand, and even our
faithful Maundrell and Pococke, can afford us no aid.
Our knowledge of a large portion of the ancient king-
dom of Judea is almost entirely derived from the
enterprising labours of modern English travellers.
Let us cast back one look on the most interesting
spot in the world,—where ouce stood the metropolis
192 PALESTINE : OR,
of Judea. Fuit Hierosolyma. To conceive of its
ancient aspect, we must endeavour to shut our eyes to
the domes, and minarets, and castellated towers which
now revolt every pleasing and sacred association —
we must forget the Turks, the Arabs, and the monks,
and blot out from the picture the holy sepulchre, with
all the horrible mummery connected with it. We
must imagine ourselves looking down from Mount
Olivet on a well-peopled and strongly-fortified city,
occupying the oblong area of two sloping hills, about
four miles in circumference, and sheltered on almost
every side by more commanding elevations, cultivated
in terraces, and clothed to their very summits with
the olive, the fig-tree, and the palm. We must bear
in recollection, that artillery was not invented when
Jerusalem was approached by the Roman armies; and
that its natural position, as surrounded on three sides
with deep ravines, and on the fourth side with a
triple wall, rendered it all but impregnable. In point
of strength, therefore, the site was admirably chosen ;
while its numerous springs and water-courses, a cir-
cumstance of the first importance in that country,
rendered it “beautiful for situation,”—imparting fer-
tility to the rich alluvial soil of the surrounding valleys,
where the Jews had their gardens, according to the
custom of the East ; the gardens and burying-places
which environ the towns, as at Gaza and Jaffa, being
their greatest ornament. It was in a garden thus
situated, that Joseph of Arimathea had hewn out a
sepulchre in the rock which rose from the other side
of the valley — probably in some part of the Valley
of Jehoshaphat, through which flowed the river
Kedron, with its little tributaries, the Siloa and the
Gihon, “making glad the city of God.”" The city
* Psalm xlvi. 4. Isa. viii. 6. John xviii. 1.
THE HOLY LAND . . 193
itself, if it could not boast of a Parthenon, was probably
equal, in architectural decoration, to any one then
standing in the world.” It could not, indeed, compare
with Babylon or Nineveh, or the hundred-gated
metropolis of Egypt, either in extent or magnificence;
but its two temples — the one built by Solomon, and
the other repaired and completed by Herod — were
successively the admiration of the world. Of the
latter, Josephus has left us a description, which, mak-
ing every allowance for his national partiality, must
be held to prove that it was every way worthy of the
founder of Cesarea and Sebaste, and the other cities
which attest the greatness of the Jewish monarch.
The stupendous foundations on which the terrace
rested, at the height of 600 perpendicular feet from
the valley, which was formed to extend the area of
the temple, still remain to indicate the gigantic nature
of the work. From the temple the city had the
appearance of an amphitheatre, the slope of the hill
being just sufficient to present it to the greatest
advantage. At certain distances, towers of not less
strength than architectural beauty, broke the line of
the walls; while on the left, the acropolis of Zion
overlooked the whole city. Modern Jerusalem, though
now disfigured by intervals of waste ground and
ruined heaps, still suggests the idea of “a compact
city;” + but when every part was built upon, it must
have peculiarly deserved this appellation. Its ancient
populousness we read of with surprise ; its gates re-
ceived an influx of strangers from all parts ; and the
wealth thus poured into it, rendered it probably one
of the richest cities in the world. If to these topo-
graphical and political advantages, we add the local
* Psalm xlviii. 12, 13. f Psalin cºxii. 3.
I94 PALESTINE ; OR,
sanctity which dignified the scene of so many proud
historical recollections, and connect with the bulwarks,
and palaces, and gardens of the metropolis of Judea, its
consecrated character as the peculiar abode of Deity—
the chosen mountain of Jehovah—the “city of God;”
we shall obtain some idea of the aspect which it once
presented, when the light of Heaven, which no
where comes with a purer ray, shone on a free and
favoured people, and the voice of joy and thanks-
giving was heard ascending from the dwellings of her
citizens.
ROUTE FROM JERUSALEM TO HEBRON AND
THE DEAD SEA.
OF that part of the ancient kingdom of Judah
which lay between the country of the Philistines and
the western coast of the Dead Sea, little or nothing
was known, till the enterprising spirit of Burckhardt,
Seetzen, and our distinguished countryman Mr. Bankes,
led them to forsake, the beaten track of pilgrimage,
and penetrate into regions concealed during more than
five centuries from European observation. Yet, within
this district are comprised sites of peculiar interest;
among others Hebron, one of the most ancient cities
in the world,” the burial-place of the patriarch Abra-
harh,i for several years the capital of king David, t
and the birth-place of John the Baptist. S To this
interesting spot, situated in the heart of the hill-
country of Judea, there is a route from Gaza, referred
to by Sandys, but unexplored by any modern traveller.
The whole of the intermediate country, including
some places of ancient note, remains to be examined.
* Num. xiii. 22. + Gen. xxiii. 2; xlix. 31.
+ 2 Sam, ii. 11. § Luke i. 39, compare with Josh. xxi. 11.
THE HOLY IAND. 195
Here we must look for Gath, one of the five Philistine
satrapies, and the furthest inland, which lay on the
road from Gaza to Eleutheropolis; and here we must
look for that episcopal city, from which Eusebius and
Jerome estimate the distances and positions of other
cities.” Through the same tract of country, in a
longitudinal direction, a Roman road ran from Jeru-
salem to Aila or AElana, from which the Gulf of Akaba
received its classical name ; and at this point, geo-
graphers place the ancient Eziongeber, to which the
dominion of Solomon extended, as its extreme south-
eastern boundary. On this line were situated several
Roman stations ; the names are specified of Elusa,
Eboda, Lysa, Gypsaria, and Rasa. The southern-
most city of the Holy Land, however, was Beersheba,
about twenty miles below Hebron, and more to the
west : it was given to the tribe of Simeon, whose
territory lay between that of Judah and the coast.
A line drawn from the southern border of the Dead
Sea to “ the river of Egypt,” + (supposed to be the
stream which falls into the Mediterranean between
Dair and Gaza,) gives the ancient' border ºf Judah
and Edom. But, subsequently, the boundaries became
* Its distance, of twenty miles from Jerusalem, is given by
Josephus. Antoninus, in his Itinerary, describes it as twenty-four
miles from Askelon, and eighteen from Lydda, while Eusebius
places it five miles from Gath, six from Lachish, twenty-five from
Gerar, twenty from Jattir, and eight from Keilah. Jerome states
it to have been the metropolis of the Horites—ubi antea habitave-
runt Horaei, qui interpretantaſy liberi, wrºde et ipsa wrbs postea sortića
vocabulum est.
# Joshua xv. 1–4. Some have supposed, that by this expression
the Nile was intended, but this notion is at variance with the
precise boundaries laid down by the sacred historian. It was pro-
bably so named as the boundary of Egypt. Dair is perhaps the
ancient Adar.
196 PALESTINE ; OR,
involved, by invasion and conquest, in considerable
uncertainty, and the Roman province of Idumea
trenched on the territory of Judea. Hebron itself
is spoken of by Josephus as belonging to Edom. Dis-
regarding, therefore, the indefinite division of these
once hostile territories, we shall do best to consider
the whole of Idumea as an integral part of the Holy
Land : it was, in fact, included within the dominions
of Solomon : it formed a province of Herod’s king-
dom, whose father was an Edomite ; and its Christian
bishops are described in ecclesiastical history as having
their dioceses in the third Palestine.
Hebron used to be frequented by Christian pilgrims,
till, as some travellers tell us, an Englishman un-
fortunately rode over a child, or some other reason,
real or pretended, led the monks of Jerusalem to
dissuade all Europeans from venturing to the south
of Bethlehem.” Sandys describes it (apparently from
* The fact appears to be, that the Bethlehemites and the
Hebronites are at constant variance. Ali Bey met, on the road
to Bethlehem, a band of Christian shepherds, who were going
to Jerusalem to lay a complaint against the Mussulman shep-
herds of El Hbalil, or Hebron, who had carricq off a part of their
cattle. “ They had with them two camels, which they had
taken from the Mussulmans as reprisals. The principal shepherd
related the affair to one of the most respectable schereefs of
Jerusalem, who accompanied me; and he explained himself in .
such energetic terms, that my imagination pictured to itself the
quarrels of Abraham's shepherds with those of Lot, the war of
the Five Kings, &c. They still preserve the same character,
manners, and customs; as also the same costume, which consists
of a shirt of reddish white wool, bound round the waist by a
girdle or leathern belt, a black cloth thrown over the shoulders,
and a piece of white cloth round the head.” (Travels, vol. ii.
p. 231.) Hasselquist states, that the Bethlehemites “are almost
in constant quarrels with the Hierosolymytes, or with the in-
habitants of Hebron, or some other of the neighbouring villages,
THE HOLY LAND. 197
report only) as in his time “utterly ruinated.” “Hard
by,” he adds, “there is a little village, seated in the
field of Machpelah, where standeth a goodly temple,
erected over the cave of their burial (that of the
patriarchs) by Helena, the mother of Constantine :
converted now into a mosque.” This does not accu-
rately correspond to the position of Hebron, which
is situated on the slope of a hill ; but the church of
Helena remains. Ali Bey, who visited Hebron in
1807, passed as a , Mussulman, and was consequently
admitted into the mosque, which is jealously guarded
by the Turks. He gives the following description of
the interior. “The sepulchres of Abraham and of his
family are in a temple that was formerly a Greek
church. The ascent to it is by a large and fine stair-
case, that leads to a long gallery, the entrance to
which is by a small court. Towards the left is a
portico, resting upon square pillars. * The vestibule
of the temple contains two rooms; the one to the
right contains the sepulchre of Abraham, and the
other, to the left, that of Sarah. In the body of
the church, which is Gothic, between two large pillars
and their differences are seldom adjusted without the effusion of
blood. Five or six year ago (1751), the inhabitants of Bethlehem
and Hebron carried on such a war as destroyed the greatest part of
the best inhabitants of both villages; and the neighbourhood of
Bethlehem was entirely laid waste.”
* The lower part of the outer wall, Captain Mangles states, is
evidently antique, being built of great stones, some of them
upwards of twenty-five feet in length. “It has sixteen pilasters
on each side, and eight on either end, without capitals, excepting
a sort of ornamental summit, which extends along the whole
building, and is a species of cornice: above this is a continua-
tion of modern masonry.” The approach to the entrance is by
a long flight of steps, which connect the edifice with other ruined
buildings.
1985 PALESTINE ; OR,
on the right, is seen a small house, in which is the
sepulchre of Isaac ; and in a similar one, upon the
left, is that of his wife. The church, which has been
converted into a mosque, has a meherel, the tribune
for the preacher on Fridays, and another tribune for
the mweddens, or singers. On the other side of the
court is another vestibule, which has also a room on
each side. In that upon the left is the sepulchre of
Jacob, and in that upon the right, that of his wife.
At the extremity of the portico of the temple, upon
the right, is a door which leads to a sort of long gal-
lery, that still serves as a mosque. From thence I
passed into another room, in which is the sepulchre
of Joseph, who died in Egypt, and whose ashes were
brought hither by the people of Israel. All the
sepulchres of the patriarchs are covered with rich
carpets of green silk, magnificently embroidered with
gold : those of their wives are red, embroidered in
like manner. The sultans of Constantinople furnish
these carpets which are renewed from time to time.
I counted nine, one over the other, upon the sepulchre
of Abraham. The rooms also which contain the tombs
are covered with rich carpets. The entrance to them
is guarded by iron gates, and wooden doors plated
with silver, with bolts and padlocks of the same metal.
There are reckoned to be more than a hundred per-
sons employed in the service of the temple ; it is con-
sequently easy to imagine how many alms must be
paid.” ”
Is this the cave of the field of Machpelah, which
was before Mamre 2. As truly so, no doubt, as the
church of the Holy Sepulchre is the tomb of Joseph
of Arimathea. The Moslems, in this instance also,
* Travels, vol. ii. pp. 232, 233.
THE HOLY LAND. 1 99
seem only to have adopted the sacred places which
they found already designated by the Christians.
Joseph, we know, was not buried at Hebron, but at
Sichem ; and the ignorance which has assigned him
a sepulchre here, affects the credibility of the whole
legend. But the local features of the place, so far
as we can gather from the above description, are
at entire variance with the history. Here would
seem to be no cave, no grotto, but a Gothic edifice,
approached by a long flight of steps, consequently on
an elevation, Hebron itself being on the slope of a hill.
It is not said that any part of the gallery or of the
rooms is excavated : the exterior is clearly a building;
not, as in other cascs, a building over a crypt, but
enclosing the supposed tombs on its elevated level.
The whole appears to be only a repetition of the pious
mummery which we have met with at Jerusalem and
at Bethlehem. The empress Helena never con-
descended to consult even probabilities.
But it may be thought that, although the stable of
Bethlehem, the spot where the cross was erected, and
the place where Peter's cock crew, could not be identi-
fied, the situation of the sepulchre of Abraham must
have been preserved by tradition ; and the Christians
could not have imposed a contradictory legend on the
Jews. Even supposing, however, that it was known
to the natives in the fourth century, we have no
reason to believe that they were consulted by the
priests of Helena ; except, indeed, in one notorious
instance, when a Jew was put to the torture in order
to induce him to find the Cross ; and they would have
been disposed to conceal, rather than to disclose, the
site of the patriarch's sepulchre. We do not know
whether the modern Jews acknowledge the mosque
at Hebron to be the site of Abraham's tomb; but, if
2OO PALESTINE 3 OR,
they do, their consummate ignorance nullifies their
authority. It so happens, indeed, that they give the
name of “the House of Abraham” to the ruins of
“a small old convent” which stands in the plain be-
tween Sipheer and Hebron; and it would be difficult
to shew why the testimony of tradition should be re-
lied upon in the one case, and rejected in the other.
Yet, we have good reason for believing that Abraham
never lived in a house of any kind. It is just possible,
however, that there may be some reason for their
bestowing this name on the building in question ; and,
were it nearer Hebron, it might seem to promise the
discovery of the sepulchral cave.
Mr. Bankes, who, with Captains Irby and Mangles
and Mr. Legh, passed through Hebron on their way
to Kerek in May 1818, were the first Englishmen
who had been there for many centuries. Their route
from Jerusalem was through Bethlehem and Tekoa,
and thence through a cultivated plain to a village
called Sipheer, by the side of a valley. Here they
noticed nine sepulchral caves, apparently of Roman
workmanship. On leaving this village they crossed a
rugged road into another plain, where are the ruins
of the small convent already mentioned, to which the
Jews give the name of the House of Abraham. The
road then ascends the hills, passing between vineyards,
each having its watch-tower for the remainder of the
way. The whole distance from Tekoa to Hebron is
described as a much prettier country than that near
Jerusalem, the sides of the hills being richly studded
with the prickly oak, the arbutus, and the Scotch fir,
with other dwarf trees and flowering-shrubs.
Hebron, now called El Hhalil, is not a town of
large dimensions, but the population is considerable.
According to Ali Bey, it contains about 400 families
THE HOLY LAND. 201
of Arabs; but he does not notice either the Jews, who
are numerous, or the Turks. He describes it as
situated on the slope of a mountain, and having a
strong castle. Provisions, he says, are abundant, and
there is a considerable number of shops. The streets
are winding, and the houses unusually high. The
country is well cultivated, to a considerable extent.
Captain Mangles states that they passed in their route
many camps of cultivating Arabs. The sheikh of
Hebron, who has the title of Hakim, is himself a na-
tive Arab. The town is stated, by the lastºrmentioned
writer, to contain a hundred Jewish houses ; and their
quarters are said to be remarkably clean, the walls
being neatly whitewashed. They have here a syna-
gogue, and their priest appears to be in the confidence
of the motsellim, or Turkish governor. The latter
personage, on observing the Tartar attendant of Mr.
Legh, said, with a good-humoured air, that “a few
years ago, if a Tartar had come to Hebron, he would
have had his head cut off, but that it was not so
now.” There is here a manufactory of glass lamps,
which are exported to Egypt. A regular party of mer-
chants and pilgrims set out every year, without any
escort, so as to fall in with the great Damascus hadj
near to or at Mecca, which is stated to be at thirty
days' distance. Hebron is computed to be twenty-
seven miles S.W. of Jerusalem.
At about three days’ distance from Hebron, to the
south, the travellers were informed of extensive ruins
at Abdi in the Desert. On leaving Hebron for Kerek,
their road, turning towards the Dead Sea, leads, in a
S.E. direction, through a tolerably well cultivated, but
uninteresting country, presenting numerous ruined
sites, some with excavated tombs in their immediate
vicinity; till, at about three hours’ distance, or some.
202 PALESTINE ; OR,
what less, the cultivated land is succeeded by a desert
country, abandoned to the wandering Arabs. Near
where this change of aspect begins to present itself,
is a place called by the natives El Baid, where there
is a fountain in the rock, and a second pool of green-
ish water: an ancient site to the N.W. of this spot,
exhibits a wall of large construction and some good
masonry.
The travellers, at some distance from this halting-
place, fell in with a camp of Jellaheen Arabs, who
stated that in years of scarcity they retired to Egypt;
a custom which would seem to have been handed
down from the days of the patriarchs, or dictated by
the same necessity which compelled the sons of Jacob
to adopt a similar expedient. Among them was an
Arab tailor, employed in making coats of sheep-skins,
which he dyed red with ochre, or some such sub-
stance.* -
At about eight hours' distance from El Baid, in
2a deep barren valley, very rugged and full of great
stones, there are the ruins of an old Turkish fort,
standing on a single rock to the left of the track; and
on the right there is a pool of green water, about
fifteen feet wide, tolerable for horses. Further on,
the cliff is excavated, at a considerable height, into
loop-holes, and the pass appears to have been a sort
of barrier, where duties were probably levied on the
traveller. The place is called El Zoar. From hence,
a gravelly ravine, studded with bushes of acacia and
other shrubs, conducts to the great sandy plain at the
southern end of the Dead Sea. On entering this
plain, the traveller has on his right a continued hill,
composed partly of salt, and partly of hardened sand,
* Fxod. xxv. 5.
THE HOLY LAND. 203
running S.E. and N.W.; till, after proceeding a few
miles, the plain opens to the south, bounded, at the
distance of about eight miles, by a sandy cliff, from
sixty to eighty feet high, which traverses the valley
of El Ghor, like a wall, forming a barrier to the
waters of the lake when at their greatest height. The
existence of that long valley, which, under the names
of El Ghor and El Araba, extends from the Dead Sea
to the AElanitic gulf, was first ascertained by the
indefatigable Burckhardt. This prolongation of the
valley of the Jordan is considered by his learned
editor as clearly indicating that that river once dis-
charged itself into the eastern branch of the Red Sea ;
thus “confirming the truth of that great volcanic
convulsion described in Gen. xix., which interrupted
the course of the river, which converted into a lake
the fertile plain occupied by the cities of Adma,
Zeboin, Sodom and Gomorrah, and which changed
all the valley to the southward of that district into
a sandy desert.”* The sandy cliff, described by Cap-
tains Irby and Mangles, was probably either thrown
up at the time of that convulsion, or has been sub-
sequently formed by accumulation, like the sand-hills
of Egypt. -
Many of our older travellers have described the
north-western shores of the Dead Sea, to which the
pilgrims are accustomed to repair from Jerusalem ; but
we are now, for the first time, put in possession, by
the publication above referred to, of correct informa-
tion respecting its southern boundary, and the singu-
lar phenomena which its shores present.
* Burckhardt’s Travels in Syria, pref. vi.
204 PALESTINE ; or,
*
| THE DEAD SEA.
THIs celebrated lake, which the prevailing passion
for the marvellous long invested with imaginary hor-
rors, and of which the natives themselves still speak
with a degree of terror, has received different names
expressive of its character and origin. In Scripture,
it is called the sea of the Plain, the Salt Sea, and
the East Sea.” By Josephus, and the Greek and
Roman writers, it is spoken of under the appellation
of Lake Asphaltites, that is, the Bituminous Lake.
St. Jerome styles it the Dead Sea, because, according
to the tradition, nothing could live in it. The Arabs
call it El Amout (the dead), and Bahr Louth, or the
Sea of Lot; and the Turks, according to Chateau-
briand, Ula Deguisi. It is a lake lying between two
ranges of mountains, which enclose it on the east and
the west ; on the north it receives the Jordan from
the plain of Jericho ; while, on the south, it is equally
open, its margin being the plain already described ;
and yet it has no outlet for its waters. Reland,
Pococke, and other travellers, have supposed that it
must throw off its superfluous waters by some sub-
terraneous channel ; but, although it has been calcu-
lated that the Jordan daily discharges into it 6,090,000
tons of water, besides what it receives from the Arnon
and several smaller streams, it is now known, that
the loss by evaporation is adequate to explain the
absorption of the waters. # Its occasional rise and
* Deut. iii. 17; iv. 49. Num. xxxiv. 3. Josh. xv. 5. Ezek. xlvii.
18. Joel ii. 20.
t “ For, provided the Dead Sea should be, according to the
general computation, seventy-two miles long and eighteen broad,
THE HOLY I, AND. 205
fall at certain seasons, is doubtiess owing to the
greater or less volume which the Jordan and the
other streams bring down from the mountains. Po-
cocke noticed the evident effect of recent inundations
of the sea, on trees which had been killed by the salt-
water. At such seasons it spreads itself into what
Captain Mangles describes as the backwater. The
high-water mark, at the period of his visit, (the
beginning of June,) was a mile distant from the
water's edge. The backwater, however, is never
quite dry. This periodical rise and fall may possibly
explain, in some degree, the different accounts which
have been given of the extent of the lake. Pliny
makes it 100 miles long, twenty-five miles broad in
the widest part, and six where it is narrowest. Jose-
phus states, that it is seventy-two miles and a half
long, by eighteen miles and three quarters broad;
with which the account given by Diodorus Siculus
very nearly agrees. Reckoning the stadium as equal
to our furlong, his statement would make it above
seventy-two miles in length and nearly nineteen in
breadth." Whereas, the observations taken by Mr.
Bankes and his companions, from several elevated
heights, enabled them, they say, to ascertain that the
utmost extent of the lake, including the backwater,
does not exceed thirty miles. Yet the ancients were
them, by allowing, according to Dr. Halley's observation, 6914
tons of vapour for every square mile, there will be drawn up
sºry day above 8,963,000 tons.”—SHAw's Travels, folio, p-
574.
* Adopting a different estimate of the stadium from Dr. E. D.
Clarke, Dr. Pococke makes Diodorus say, that it is only sixty-
two miles and a half long, and seven and a half broad; which he
º near the truth. But he judged only by its appearance to
the eye.
PART II. *y
206 PALESTINE ; OR, *
well acqmainted with the sea. Josephus, Julius Afri-
canus, and Pausanias describe it from their own
ocular evidence. Are we to conclude that the lake
has contracted its dimensions, so as to be only half
its ancient length P Supposing any change to have
taken place in the depth of its basin, in the lapse of
ages, during which the bituminous stores contained
in the subterranean chambers of the abyss have been
in a process of decomposition,-this is not impossible.
For, as the whole of the plain extending from the
backwater to the sandy wall which traverses the
Ghor, is a flat, on a level with the sea, it is extremely
probable that the waters anciently covered that whole
extent ; and a comparatively slight subsidence of the
sea would convert the shallow into a marshy, and at
length arid, plain. This supposition would not, in-
deed, according to Captain Irby's estimate of the
distance of the cliff, add more than eight or ten miles
of length to the lake ; but it would at least lessen
the discrepancy between the conflicting authorities.
Even if the whole of the lake should prove to be a
shallow, the diminution of its waters might be ac-
counted for by changes in the course of the torrents,
or in the volume of water which formerly supplied its
constant waste by evaporation. It is probable, how-
ever, that, in the low estirnation of its length, suffi-
cient allowance has not been made for its winding or
curved direction. Pococke says, it did not appear to
him above a league broad; and Mr. Jolliffe thought the
expanse could not exceed five or six miles in breadth ;
but both speak of its northern extremity, where it
ends in a sort of bay. As it advances southwardly,
it increases in breadth, assuming the form of a curve,
or, according to Chateaubriand, the shape of a bow.
Its course is visible from the northern shore only for
THE HOLY LAND. 2O7
about ten or fifteen miles, in a S.S.E. direction, dis-
appearing in a curve towards the East.
The Jordan, at its embouchure, is deep and rapid,
rolling a volume of waters from two to three bundred
feet in width, with a current so violent, that an expert
swimmer, who attended Mr. Jolliffe, found it im-
practicable to cross it. Dr. Shaw describes it, indeed,
as not more than thirty yards broad, and Maundrell,
as only about twenty yards over ; but they speak of its
appearance at some distance from the mouth, where
the pilgrims bathe. The former affirms that it runs
about two miles an hour, while the latter speaks of
its violent and turbid current, “too rapid to be swam
against.” It was the old opinion, that the waters of
the river passed through the lake without mingling
with it ; and “I thought I saw,” says Pococke, “the
stream of a different colour.” The fact is, that the
water of the lake is clear and of the colour of the sea,
while that of the Jordan is muddy, and of course dis-
colours the lake with its yellow current.
The specific gravity of the waters of the Dead Sea
is supposed to have been much exaggerated by the
ancient writers, but their statements are now proved
to be by no means very wide of the truth. Pliny
says, that no living bodies would sink in it; and
Strabo, that persons who went into it were borne up
to their middle. Josephus states, that Vespasian tried
the experiment, by ordering some persons who could
not swim, to be thrown into the water with their
hands tied behind them, and that they all floated,
as if impelled upwards by a subterranean current.
Maundrell says; “Being willing to make an experi-
ment of its strength, I went into it, and found it
bore up my body in swimming with an uncommon
force. But as for that relation of some authors, that
208 PALESTINE ; OR,
men wading into it were buoyed up to the top as
soon as they go as deep as the navel, I found it
by experiment not true.” Pococke, however, says:
“I was much pleased with what I observed of this
extraordinary water, and stayed in it near a quarter
of an hour. I found I could lay on it in any posture,
without motion, and without sinking. It bore me up
in such a manner, that, when I struck in swimming,
my legs were above the water, and I found it diffi-
cult to recover my feet. I did not care to venture
where it was deep, though these effects would pro-
bably have been more remarkable further in. They
have a notion that if any one attempted to swim over,
it would burn up the body; and they say the same
of boats, for there are none on the lake.” Van Eg-
mont and Heyman state, that, on swimming to some
distance from the shore, they found themselves, to
their great surprise, lifted up by the water. “When
I had swam to some distance, I endeavoured to sink
perpendicularly to the bottom, but could not ; for the
water kept me continually up, and would certainly
have thrown me upon my face, had I not put forth
all the strength I was master of, to keep myself in
a perpendicular posture ; so that I walked in the sea
as if I had trod on firm ground, without having oc-
casion to make any of the motions necessary in tread-
ing fresh water; and when I was swimming, I was
obliged to keep my legs the greatest part of the time
out of the water. My fellow-traveller was agreeably
surprised to find that he could swim here, having
never learned. But his case and mine proceeded from
the gravity of the water, as this certainly does from
the extraordinary quantity of salt in it.” Mr. Jolliffe
says, he found it very little more buoyant than other
seas, but he did not go out of his depth. “The
THE HOLY LAND. 209
descent of the beach,” he says, “is so gently gradual,
that I must have waded above a hundred yards to get
completely out of my depth, and the impatience of the
Arabians would not allow of time sufficient for this.”
Captain Mangles says: “ The water is as bitter and
as buoyant as the people have reported. Those of our
party who could not swim, floated on its surface like
corks. On dipping the head in, the eyes smarted
dreadfully.” The question of its specific gravity, in-
deed, has been set to rest by the chemical analysis of
the waters made by Dr. Marcet, and published in the
London Philosophical Transactions for 1807. In 1778,
Messrs. Lavoisier, Macquer, and Le Sage had con-
cluded, by experiment, that a hundred pounds of the
Water contain forty-five pounds six ounces of salt ;
that is, six pounds four ounces of common marine salt,
and thirty-eight pounds two ounces of marine salt
with an earthy base. But Dr. Marcet's more accu-
rate analysis has determined the specific gravity to he
1,211, (that of fresh water being 1000,) a degree of
density not to be met with in any other natural
water; and it holds in solution the following salts, in
the stated proportions to 100 grains of the water:
Muriate of lime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,920 grains.
Muriate of magnesia . . . . . . . . . . 10,246
Muriate of soda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,360
Sulphate of lime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0,054
24,580
So that the water of the lake contains about one-
fourth of its weight of salts, supposed in a state of
perfect desiccation ; or if they be desiccated at the
temperature of 180° on Fahrenheit's scale, they will
amount to forty-one per cent. of the water. Its other
general properties are, that, 1. As stated by all travel-
N 2
210 PALESTINE ; Olt,
Jers, it is perfectly transparent. 2. Its taste is ex-
tremely bitter, saline, and pungent. 3. Re-agents
demonstrate in it the presence of the marine and
sulphuric acids. 4. It contains no alumine. 5. It is
not saturated with common salt. 6. It did not change
the colours of the infusions commonly used to ascer-
tain the prevalence of an acid or an alkali, such as
litmus, violet, and turmeric.
The water of the Jordan, when analysed, exhibited
results strikingly dissimilar. It is soft, has no saline
taste, and 500 grains evaporated at 200°, left 0.8 grains
of dry residue ; that is, only ºrg part of the propor-
tion of solid matter that is contained in the water of
the lake. Carbonate of lime was detected in the water
of the river, of which there is no trace in the salt
water; and two other precipitates were produced, one
of them magnesian. It is impossible to account for
this remarkable difference, on any other principle than
that which refers the origin of the lake to the convul-
sion recorded in the Scripture narrative.
With regard to the agents employed in this cata-
strophe, there might seem reason to suppose that vol-
canic phenomena had some share in producing it ; but
Chateaubriand’s remark-is deserving of attention. “I
cannot,” he says, “ coincide in opinion with those
who suppose the Dead Sea to be the crater of a vol-
cano. I have seen Vesuvius, Solfatara, Monte Nuovo
in the lake of Fusino, the peak of the Azores, the
Mamalif opposite to Carthage, the extinguished vol-
canoes of Auvergne ; and remarked in all of them the
same characters; that is to say, mountains excavated
in the form of a tunnel, lava, and ashes, which ex-
hibited incontestible proofs of the agency of fire.”
After noticing the very different shape and position
of the Dead Sea, he adds: “Bitumen, warm springs,
THE HOLY L.A.N.D." 2 11
and phosphoric stones are found, it is true, in the
mountains of Arabia ; but then, the presence of hot
springs, sulphur, and asphaltos is not sufficient to
attest the anterior existence of a volcano.”* The
learned Frenchman inclines to adopt the idea of Pro-
fessors Michaelis and Büsching, that Sodom and Go-
morrah were built upon a mine of bitumen ; that
lightning kindled the combustible mass, and that
the cities sank in the subterraneous conflagration. M.
Malte Brun ingeniously suggests, that the cities might
themselves have been built of bituminous stones, and
thus have been set in flames by the fire of heaven.
We learn, from the Mosaic account, that the Vale
of Siddim, which is now occupied by the Dead Sea,
was full of “slime pits,” or pits of bitumen.-- PG-
cocke says: “It is observed, that the bitumen floats
on the water, and comes ashore after windy weather;
the Arabs gather it up, and it serves as pitch for all
uses, goes into the composition of medicines, it and is
thought to have been a very great ingredient in the
bitumen used in embalming the bodies in Egypt : S
it has been much used for cerecloths, and has an ill
smell when burnt. It is probable that there are sub-
terraneous fires, that throw up this bitumen at the
bottom of the sea, where it may form itself into a
mass, which may be broken by the motion of the
water occasioned by high winds; and it is very re-
* Travels in Greece, &c. vol. i. pp. 413, 414.
t Gen. xiv. 3, 10.
# Dr. Clarke states, that the monks of St. Salvador (the Latin
convent of Jerusalem) keep the water of the Dead Sea in jars,
together with the bitumen of the same lake, among the articles
of their pharmacy, both being alike esteemed for their medicinaj
properties. (Vol. iv. p. 308.)
§ This is expressly affirmed by Pliny.
212 PALESTINE ; OR,
markable, that the stone called the stone of Moses.
found about two or three leagues from the sea, which
burns like a coal, and turns only to a white stone, and
not to ashes, has the same smell, when burnt, as this
pitch ; so that it is probable, a stratum of the stone
under the Dead Sea is one part of the matter that
feeds the subterraneous fires, and that this bitumen
boils up out of it.”
To give force to this last conjecture, however, it
would be requisite to ascertain, whether bitumen is
capable of being detached from this stone, in a liquid
state, by the action of fire. The stone in question is
the black fetid limestone, used at Jerusalem in the
manufacture of rosaries and amulets, and worn as a
charm against the plague.” The effluvia which it
emits on friction, is owing to a strong impregnation
of sulphuretted hydrogen. If the buildings were con-
structed of materials of this description, with quarries
of which the neighbouring mountains abound, they
would be easily susceptible of ignition by lightning.
The Scriptural account, however, is explicit, that “the
Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brim-
stone and fire from heaven;”+ which we may safely
interpret as implying a shower of inflamed sulphur,
or nitre. At the same time it is evident, that the
whole plain underwent a simultaneous convulsion,
which seems referrible to the consequences of a bi-
tuminous explosion. In perfect accordance with this
* Hasselquist describes this mineral as “ quartz stones in the
form of slate — one of the rarest natural curiosities,” he says,
“I got in my travels. If it was burnt, it smelt like bitumen,
which proves that it had its origin from it, like all the slate
of this country.”—Voyages and Travels, p. 131. See Dr. Clarke's
Geological Authorities, vol. iv. p. 307.
f Gen. xix. 24.
TH E HO I, Y L.A. N. D. 213
view of the catastrophe, we find the very materials,
as it were, of this awful visitation still at hand in the
neighbouring hills; from which they might have been
poured down by the agency of a thunder-storm, with-
out excluding a supernatural cause from the expla-
mation of the phenomena. Captains Irby and Man-
gles collected, on the southern coast, lumps of nitre
and fine sulphur, from the size of a nutmeg up to that
of a small hen's egg, which, it was evident from their
situation, had been brought down by the rain : “ their
great deposite must be sought for,” they say, “ in
the cliff.”
Dr. Shaw supposes that the bitumen, as it rises, is
accompanied with sulphur, “inasmuch as both of them
are found promiscuously upon the wash of the shore.”
But his conjecture is not founded on observation. The
statement he gives, is founded on hearsay evidence ;
we cannot, therefore, admit him as (in this case) an
original authority. “I was informed,” he says, “that
the bitumen, for which this lake hath been always re-
markable, is raised, at certain times, from the bottom,
in large hemispheres ; which, as soon as they touch
the surface, and so are acted upon by the external air,
burst at once with great smoke and noise, like the
pulvis fulminans of the chemists, and disperse them-
selves round about in a thousand pieces. But this
happens only near the shore ; for, in greater depths,
the eruptions are supposed to discover themselves only
in such columns of smoke as are now and then ob-
served to arise from the lake.” “ Chateaubriand speaks
of the puffs of smoke “ which announce or follow the
emersion of asphaltos, and of fogs that are really un-
wholesome like all other fogs.” These he considers
* Travels, folio, p. 374.
2 l 4 PALEST IN E ; OR,
as the supposed pestilential vapours said to arise from
the bosom of the lake. But it admits of question, in
the deficiency of more specific information, whether
what has been taken for columns of smoke, may not
be the effect of evaporation.” From the very interest-
ing account furnished by Captains Irby and Mangles,
we obtain some further particulars of this astonishing
scene, which may seem to justify the conjecture.
Ön entering upon the plain to the southward of the
lake, exclusive of the saline appearance left by the
retiring of the waters, they noticed lying on the
ground, several large fragments of rock-salt, which led
them to examine the hill on the right of the ravine by
which they had descended. This has been described
as composed partly of salt, partly of hardened sand :
the salt in many instances was hanging from the cliffs,
in clear perpendicular points resembling icicles. They
observed also strata of salt of considerable thickness,
having very little sand mixed with it, generally in per-
pendicular lines. During the rainy season, the tor-
rents apparently bring down immense masses of this
mineral. Strabo mentions, that to the southward of
the Dead Sea there are towns and cities built entirely
of salt; and “although,” adds the writer, “ such an
account seems strange, yet, when we contemplated the
scene before us, it did not seem improbable. The
sea had thrown up at high-water mark a quantity of
wood, with which the travellers attempted to make a
fire, in order to bake some bread ; but it was so im-
pregnated with salt, that all their efforts were un-
* “As soon as we came to the pass, which commands an ex-
tensive prospect of the Dead Sea, we could observe the effect of
the evaporation arising from it in broad transparent columns of
vapour, not unlike water-spouts in appearance, but very much
larger.”—l R BY and MANGLEs, p. 447.
THE HOLY LAND. 215
availing. The track, after leaving the salt hill, led
across the barren flats of the backwater — then left
partially dry by the effects of evaporation. They
passed six drains running into the sea : some were
wet, and still draining the dreary level which they
intersected ; others were dry. These had a strong
marshy smell, similar to what is perceivable on most
of the muddy flats in salt-water harbours, but by
no means more unpleasant. The water on the main
body of the lake is perfectly free from any smell.
Besides these salt-water drains, several little torrents
descending from the eastern mountains find their way
into the sea. At about half an hour from the first
drain, and three hours from the western cliff of the
Ghor, is the Nahr-el-Hussan, or Horse River; which,
traversing the plain in a N.N.W. direction, falls into
the backwater at its southern edge. Three hours
further, keeping the line of the coast, the Nahr-el-
Assel, or Honey River, falls into its eastern border.
From thence, at four hours’ distance, the Nahr-el-
Derrah (or Darah) crossing the valley on the eastern
side of the backwater, runs northward into a bay of
the Dead Sea, formed by an elevated tongue of land,
extending some miles into the lake: between which
and its western shore is the strait or outlet into the
backwater. At the narrowest part of this strait,
where a low promontory projects from the opposite or
western shore, is a ford, which the natives state to be
at no season impassable : here the route crosses which
is taken by the caravan from Terek. This description
exactly answers to the concise account cited by Cha-
teaubriand from the ziarrative of Daniel, Abbot of St.
Saba, the only person then known to have made the
tour of the lake. “The Dead Sea, at its extremity,”
he says, “ is separated as it were into two parts; and
21 6 PALESTINE ; OR,
there is a way by which you may walk across it, being
only mid-leg deep,-at least in summer. The land at
that point rises and bounds another small lake, of a
circular or rather oval figure, surrounded with plains
and mountains of salt.”
In the plain bordering upon the lake are high
rushes, which give way to a variety of bushes and wild
plants; among others, several species of acacia, the
dwarf mimosa, the tamarisk, the wild cotton plant,
the doom, and the oschar. Captain Mangles describes
also a very curious tree, which abounds here ; its fruit
resembling the currant in its growth, but with the
colour of a plum ; having a strong aromatic taste
resembling mustard, and, if taken in any quantity,
producing the same irritability in the nose and eyes.
The leaves have the same pungent flavour in a less
degree. On the borders of the Derrah, they observed
another peculiar shrub, its branches inclining down
wards, of a dull green, with little or no foliage; the
fruit about the size of an almond in its green husk,
and not very dissimilar in colour, but seamed or
ribbed. When ripe, it becomes soft and juicy, like a
green gage, but the skin retains its roughness. It
contains a stone. The taste has a sort of sweetness,
mixed with a strong bitter; the smell is sickly and
disagreeable. It is said by the natives to be poisonous,
children being reported to have frequently been dis-
ordered, and even to have died, after eating it. Near
the Nahr-el-Hussan there was plenty of corn grow-
ing in the open grounds between the bushes. Pro-
ceeding along the foot of the mountains which bound
the east side of the plains, the track is rugged and
barren in the extreme, presenting innumerable frag-
ments of red and grey granite, grey, red, and black
porphyry, serpentine, a beautiful black basalt, breccia,
THE HOLY LAND. 21 7
and other kinds of stone from the neighbouring moun-
tains, scattered in all directions. The Nahr-el-Derrah
waters a beautiful shady ravine : its banks being
clothed in profusion with the palm, acacia, aspine, and
oleander, afford a refreshing contrast to the desert
appearance of the neighbourhood. The rocks above,
which are composed chiefly of a dark sand-stone and
various kinds of marble, present hardly a vestige of
vegetation. Near where the Derrah opens from its
glen into the plain to the northward, there is very
clearly to be perceived an ancient site. Stones that
have been used in building, though for the most part
unhewn, with bricks and fragments of pottery, are
strewed over the uneven surface, for at least half
a mile quite down to the plain. Captain Mangles
noticed a column, and a pretty specimen of antique
variegated glass. The hare and the partridge of the
desert, or quail, abound in the thickets, and there
were observed frequent tracks of the wild boar. Se-
veral villages of Ghorneys, a sort of Mahommedan
Pariahs, are scattered about the plains. Near the sea,
the vegetation consists chiefly of the tamarisk and the
cane, so high and so thickly set as to render many
parts wholly impassable. The rotten and marshy
ground, during the winter season especially, renders
the passage very difficult. The foliage has a salt dew
hanging on it, which is greasy to the touch. A nar-
row, pebbly beach separates the jungle from the sea,
which encroaches more or less on the shore, according
to the season. The highest point which it reaches, is
marked by an extensive deposite of timber of all sizes.
It dries off into shallows and small pools, which depo-
site a salt as fine and well bleached, in some instances,
as that in regular salt-pans. The travellers found seve-
ral of the natives peeling off a solid layer of salt, seve-
PART II. O
218 PALESTINE ; OR,
ral inches thick, with which they loaded their asses. In
some parts the ground is treacherous, being only glazed
over with a thin crust, not unlike the sediment of mud
which is in some parts left by the Nile; and towards
the strait, where the water, being more shallow, re-
tires rapidly, a considerable level is left, encrusted
with a salt that is but half dried and consolidated,
appearing like ice in the commencement of a thaw,
and giving way nearly ancle deep. At the northern-
most point of the cape, some rotten branches were
found standing up, so encrusted with salt that they
had the appearance of fine white coral.
It was long a received tradition, that no living
thing could pass over this lake without being suffo-
cated by the vapours, and that no fish could endure
the deadly waters. Captains Irby and Mangles found
on the shores a great number of dead locusts, which
might almost seem, they remark, to lend some coun-
tenance to the tale, were it not a spectacle sufficiently
common upon other shores, as about El Arisch, and in
Sicily. These, however, had not become putrid, nor
had they any smell, as when cast up by any other sea,
being completely penetrated and encrusted with salt ;
and they had lost their colour. Of the fabulous nature
of one part of the tradition, the travellers had ocular
demonstration; first, in a pair of Egyptian geese, and
afterwards in a flight of pigeons, which passed over
the sea.” And Maundrell saw several birds, he does
* Van Egmont and Heyman carried with them two sparrows,
for the purpose of ascertaining the alleged fact, and having
plucked out a few feathers from each wing, so that they could not
fly long, set them at liberty. “After a short ſlight, they fell into,
or rather upon the sea; but so far were they from dying there, that
they both got safe ashore; though, had there been any such noxious
effluvia, they were long enough on the surface of the water to have
felt its deleterious effect.”
THE HOLY IAND. 219
not say of what species, flying about and over the sea,
without any visible harm. The latter part also of the
report, he adds, “I have some reason to suspect as
false ; having observed among the pebbles on the shore
two or three shells of fish, resembling oyster-shells.
These were cast up by the waves, at two hours' dis-
tance from the mouth of the Jordan ; which I mention,
lest it should be suspected that they might be brought
into the sea that way.” “ Seetzen, too, speaks of
some snail-shells he found on the coast, as proving
that there are living creatures in the lake. And
Captain Irby and his companions found, besides
snail-shells, a small spiral species. But these were
invariably without fish, and had not apparently been
occupied for a long time. Pococke justly remarks,
that it is not probable that the fresh-water fish
of the Jordan could live in the salt-water ; but he
was told that a monk had seen fish caught in the
lake—a most indubitable testimony | M. Chateau.
briand, moreover, heard at midnight a noise upon
the lake, which, he was told by the Bethlehemites,
proceeded from legions of small fish which come
and leap about on the shore—doubtless seeking
to be delivered from the pestilential waters. This
was, we apprehend, nothing more than a hoax upon
the learned Frenchman. Hitherto, we are without
any satisfactory evidence that the lake contains any
living creatures. Captain Mangles mentions it as
remarkable, how few living things, whether birds,
insects, or reptiles, are to be seen on its shores. The
want of vegetable matter and of fresh water is a very
sufficient reason.
* Hasselguist says: “ The Arabs say, there are no fish in this
sea; however, I doubt the truth of this, as there are shell-fish”
(on the shore).
220 PALESTINE ; OR,
M. Seetzen imagined that he had discovered an
island of some extent in the Dead Sea ; but this our
English travellers ascertained beyond all doubt to
have no existence. One evening, however, about
sunset, they were themselves deceived by a dark sha-
dow on the waters, which assumed so exactly the
appearance of an island, that, even after looking at it
through a telescope, they concluded it to be one. “It
is not the only time,” they say, “that such a pheno-
menon has presented itself to us : in two instances,
looking up the sea from its southern extremity, we
saw it apparently closed by a low dark line, like a bar
of sand, to the northward ; and on another occasion,
two small islands seemed to present themselves be-
tween a long sharp promontory on the western shore.”
They profess themselves at a loss to account for these
appearances, which they suppose to be what deceived
M. Seetzen ; but they suggest it as just possible, that
he might see “ one of those temporary islands of
bitumen which Pliny describes as being several acres
in extent.” Is it not possible that M. Seetzen’s island,
and the appearances observed by the English travel-
lers, were shallows 2–This suggests an interesting
Inquiry.
Chateaubriand says: “ Several travellers, and,
among others, Troilo and D’Arvieux, assert, that
they remarked fragments of walls and palaces in the
Dead Sea. This statement seems to be confirmed by
Maundrell and Father Nau. The ancients speak
more positively on this subject. Josephus, employing
a poetic expression, says, that he perceived on the
banks of the lake, the shades of the overwhelmed
cities. Strabo gives a circumference of sixty stadia to
the ruins of Sodom, which are mentioned also by
Tacitus. I know not whether they still exist; but, as
THE HOLY LAND. 221
the lake rises and falls at certain seasons, it is possible
that it may alternately cover and expose the skeletons
of the reprobate cities.”” Mr. Jolliffe mentions the
same story. “We have even,” he says, “heard it
asserted with confidence, that broken columns and
other architectural ruins are visible at certain seasons,
when the water is much retired below its usual level;
but of this statement, our informers, when closely
pressed, could not adduce any satisfactory confirma-
tion.” We are afraid that, notwithstanding the
authority of Strabo, we must class this legend with the
dreams of imagination; or perhaps its origin may be
referred to some such optical delusion as led to the
mistake respecting the supposed island. In the travels
of Egmont and Heyman, however, there is a statement
which may throw some light on the subject. They
say: “We also saw here a kind of jetty or prominence,
which appears to have been a heap of stones from
time to time thrown up by the sea; but it is a current
opinion here, that they are part of the ruins of one of
* Travels in Greece, &c. vol. i. p. 415. Maundrell's alleged
confirmation is worth little. “Being desirous to see the remains
(if there were any) of those cities anciently situate in this place,
and made so dreadful an example of the Divine vengeance, I dili-
gently surveyed the waters as far as my eye could reach ; but
neither could I discern any heaps of ruins, nor any smoke ascend-
ing above the surface of the water, as is usually described in the
writings and maps of geographers. But yet I must not omit what
was confidently asserted to me by the father guardian and the pro-
curator of Jerusalem, both men in years, and seemingly not desti-
tute either of sense or probity, viz. that they had once actually
seen one of these ruins ; that it was so near the shore, and the
water so shallow at that time, that they, together with some
Frenchmen, went to it, and found there several pillars and other
fragments of buildings. The cause of our being deprived of this
sight, was, I suppose, the height of the water.” It is not difficult to
perceive, from this dry remark, that our traveller's incredulity was
not overcome by his gave authorities.
-
222 PALESTINE ; OR,
the towns which are buried under it.” The bare pos.
sibility, that any wreck of the guilty cities should
be brought to light, is sufficient to excite an intense
curiosity to explore this mysterious flood, which, so
far as appears from any records, no bark has ever
ploughed,” no plummet ever sounded. Should per-
mission ever be obtained from the Turks, to launch a
vessel on the lake, its navigation, if practicable, would
probably lead to some interesting results.
There yet remains to be noticed, in connexion with
this subject, the far-famed apples
“ which grew
Near that bituminous lake where Sodom stood.”
Tacitus and Josephus both mention this fruit as beau-
tiful to the eye, but crumbling, at the touch, to dust
and bitter ashes.-- Reland, Maundrell, and Shaw, all
express themselves as sceptical concerning its existence.
But none of them explored the borders of the lake
sufficiently to entitle them to give a decided opinion on
the subject, having only seen its northern shore.
Pococke is inclined to lay more stress on the ancient
testimonies; and he supposes the apples to be pome-
granates, “ which having a tough, hard rind, and
being left on the trees two or three years, the inside
may be dried to dust, and the outside may remain
fair.” Hasselguist, however, the pupil of Linnaeus,
pronounces the Poma Sodomitica to be the fruit of the
Solanum melongena, (egg-plant nightshade, or mad-
apple,) which he states to be found in great abundance
* Strabo, Pliny, and Diodorus Siculus speak of rafts, composed
of interwoven reeds, on which the Arabs used to go to collect
asphaltos.
* See also Wisdom x. 7.
THE HOLY LAND. 223
round Jericho, in the valleys near the Jordan, and in
the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea. “It is true,” he
says, “that these apples are sometimes full of dust,
but this appears only when the fruit is attacked by
an insect (tenthredo), which converts the whole of
the inside into dust, leaving nothing but the rind
entire, without causing it to lose any of its colour.”
M. Seetzen, differing from Hasselquist in opinion, sup-
poses the apple of Sodom to be the fruit of a species of
cotton-tree, which, he was told, grows in the plain of
El Ghor, in appearance resembling a fig-tree, and
known by the name of Abeschaez. The cotton is con-
tained in the fruit, which is like a pomegranate, but
has no pulp. Chateaubriand follows with his discovery
of what he concludes to be the long-sought fruit. The
shrub which bears it, he says, grows two or three
leagues from the mouth of the Jordan: it is thorny,
with small taper leaves, and its fruit is exactly like the
little Egyptian lemon both in size and colour. “ Be-
fore it is ripe, it is filled with a corrosive and saline
juice : when dried, it yields a blackish seed, which
may be compared to ashes, and which in taste resembles
bitter pepper.” He gathered half a dozen of these
fruits, but has no name for them, either popular or
botanical. Next comes Mr. Jolliffe. He found in a
thicket of brushwood, about half a mile from the plain
of Jericho, a shrub five or six feet high, on which
grew clusters of fruit, about the size of a small apricot,
of a bright yellow colour, “which, contrasting with
the delicate verdure of the foliage, seemed like the
union of gold with emeralds. Possibly, when ripe,
they may crumble into dust upon any violent pressure.”
Those which this gentleman gathered did not crumble,
nor even retain the slightest mark of indenture from
the touch ; they would seem to want, therefore, the
224 PALESTINE ; OR,
most essential characteristic of the fruit in question.
But they were not ripe. This shrub is probably the
same as that described by Chateaubriand. Lastly,
Captains Irby and Mangles have no doubt that they
have discovered it in the oskar plant, which they
noticed on the shores of the Dead Sea, grown to the
stature of a tree ; its trunk measuring, in many in-
stances, two feet or more in circumference, and the
boughs at least fifteen feet high. The filaments en-
closed in the fruit, somewhat resemble the down of a
thistle, and are used by the natives as a stuffing
for their cushions ; “they likewise twist them, like
thin rope, into matches for their guns, which, they
assured us, required no application of sulphur to render
them combustible.” This is probably the same tree
that M. Seetzen refers to. But still, the correspond-
ence to the ancient description is by no means perfect;
there being little resemblance between cotton or thistle-
down, and ashes or dust. M. Chateaubriand’s golden
fruit, full of bitter seed, comes the nearest to what is
told us of the deceitful apple. If it be any thing more
than a fable, it must have been a production peculiar
to this part of Palestine, or it would not have excited
such general attention. On this account, the Oskar
and the solanum seem alike unentitled to the distinc-
tion ; and for the same reason, the pomegranate must
altogether be excluded from consideration. The fruit
of the solanum melongena, which belongs to the same
genus as the common potatoe, is white, resembling a
large egg, and is said to impart an agreeable acid
flavour to soups and sauces, for the sake of which it is
cultivated in the south of Europe. This could hardly
be what Tacitus and Josephus referred to. It is pos-
sible, indeed, that what they describe, may have ori-
ginated, like the oak-galls in this country, in the work
THE HOLY LAN ID. 225
of some insect : for these remarkable productions
sometimes acquire a considerable size and beauty of
colour. Future travellers will be inexcusable if they
leave this question undecided. -
The usual route by which travellers have reached
the northern shores of the Dead Sea, is by Jericho and
Santa Saba. Before we finally quit the land of Judea,
we must notice the interesting sites which occur in
this track.
THE ROAD TO JERICIHO AND THE JORDAN.
Soon after leaving Bethany, the road descends the
other side of Mount Olivet, having a valley to the
right : it then leads for three or four miles along the
valley, and at length turns northward into a moun-
tainous desert which the ancients have fixed upon as
a fit place in which to lay the scene of our Lord's
temptation. “A most miserable, dry, barren place
it is,” says Maundrell, “ consisting of high rocky
mountains so torn and disordered, as if the earth had
here suffered some great convulsion, in which its very
bowels had been turned outward. On the left hand,”
continues this accurate traveller, “ looking down into
a deep valley, as we passed along, we saw some ruins
of small cells and cottages, which they told us were
formerly the habitations of hermits retiring hither for
penance and mortification. And certainly, there could
not be found in the whole earth a more comfortless and
abandoned place for that purpose. From the top of
these hills of desolation we had, however, a delightful
prospect of the mountains of Arabia, the Dead Sea,
and the plain of Jericho; into which last place we
descended, after about five hours' march from Jeru-
salem. As soon as we entered the plain, we turned up
O 2
226 PALESTINE ; OR,
on the left hand, and going about one hour that way,
came to the foot of the Quarantania; which, they say,
is the mountain into which the devil took our blessed
Saviour, when he tempted him with that visionary
scene of all the kingdoms and glories of the world. It
is, as St. Matthew styles it, an exceeding high moun-
tain, and in its ascent not only difficult but dangerous.
It has a small chapel at the top, and another about
half way up, founded upon a prominent part of the
rock. Near this latter are several caves and holes in
the side of the mountain, made use of anciently by
hermits, and by some at this day, for places to keep
their Lent in, in imitation of that of our blessed
Saviour. In most of these grots we found certain
Arabs quartered with fire-arms, who obstructed our
ascent, demanding two hundred dollars for leave to go
up the mountains. So we departed without further
trouble, not a little glad to have so good an excuse for
not climbing so dangerous a precipice. *
* Hasselquist attempted to teach the summit of “the mountain
where Christ fasted and was tempted,” but found it too perilous
an adventure. “ The mountain,” he says, “ is high and pointed;
and on our left, as we ascended, was a deep valley, towards which
the rock was perpendicularly steep. It consists of a loose white
limestone, mixed with another that is greyish and harder. The
way up to the highest point is dangerous beyond imagination. it
is narrow, steep, and full of rocks and stones, which obliged us
frequently to creep over them before we could accomplish our de-
sign. The difficulty is increased by the valley on one side, which,
besides its terrible aspect, is dangerous in case one should slip, as in
such case it would be impossible to escape death. Near the top
of the mountain are the ruins of an old Greek convent, which
shew how the monks and anchorites of the old Christians lived,
and what places they inhabited. The Greeks preserve the ancient
dwellings of their forefathers in Mount Sinai, Saba, St. Elias, and
other places in the East. I went as far up on this terrible moun-
tain of temptation as prudence would permit ; but ventured not
to go to the top, whither I sent my servant to bring what natural
THE HOLY LAND. 227
“Turning down from hence into the plain, we
passed by a ruined aqueduct, and a convent in the
same condition, and in about a mile's riding, came to
the fountain of Elisha; so called, because miraculously
purged from its brackishness by that prophet, at the
request of the men of Jericho, 2 Kings ii. 19. Its
waters are at present received in a basin, about nine
or ten paces long, and five or six broad; and from
thence issuing out in good plenty, divide themselves
into several small streams, dispersing their refreshment
to all the field between this and Jericho, and rendering
it exceeding fruitful. Close by the fountain grows
a large tree spreading into boughs over the water ;
and here in the shade we took a collation, with the
father guardian, and about thirty or forty friars more,
who went this journey with us.
“At about one third of an hour’s distance from
hence is Jericho, at present only a poor nasty village
of the Arabs. We were here carried to see a place
where Zaccheus's house is said to have stood ; which
is only an old square stone building, on the south side
of Jericho.”
According to Pococke, the mountains to which the
absurd name of Quarantania has been arbitrarily given,
are the highest in all Judea ; and he is probably cor-
rect : they form part of a chain extending from Scy-
thopolis into Idumea. The fountain of Elisha he
states to be a soft water, rather warm ; he found in it
some small shell-fish of the turbinated kind. Close by
the ruined aqueduct are the remains of a fine paved
way, with a fallen column, supposed to be a Roman
curiosities he could find, whilst I gathered what plants and in
sects I could find below. Of the latter, I found a very curious and
new cimer or bug t t "-Travels, p. 126.
228 PALESTINE ; OR,
milestone. The hills nearest to Jerusalem consist,
according to Hasselquist, of a very hard limestone;
and different sorts of plants are found on them, in par-
ticular the myrtle, the carob-tree, and the turpentine-
tree ; but further towards Jericho, they are bare and
barren, the hard limestone giving way to a looser kind,
sometimes white and sometimes greyish, with inter-
jacent layers of a reddish micaceous stone (saww.m.
purum micaceum). The vales, though now bare and
uncultivated, and full of pebbles, contain good red
mould, which would amply reward the husbandman’s
toil. Nothing can be more savage than the present
aspect of these wild and gloomy solitudes — the very
road in which is laid the scene of that exquisite
parable, the Good Samaritan. * and from that time to
the present, the haunt of the most desperate bandits,
being one of the most dangerous in Palestine. Some-
times the track leads along the edges of cliffs and pre-
cipices, which threaten destruction on the slightest
false step: at other times it winds through craggy
passes, overshadowed by projecting or perpendicular
rocks. At one place, the road has been cut through
the very apex of a hill, the rocks overhanging it on
either side. Here, in 1820, an English traveller, Sir
Frederick Henniker, was attacked by the Arabs with
fire-arms, who stripped him naked, and left him
severely wounded. “It was past mid-day, and burn-
ing hot,” says Sir Frederick; “I bled profusely; and
two vultures, whose business it is to consume corpses,
were hovering over me. I should scarcely have had
strength to resist, had they chosen to attack me.” At
* Luke x. 30. “ A certain man went down from Jerusalem to
Jericho, and fell among thieves (robbers), who stripped him of his
rainment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half-dead.”
THE HOLY LANI), 229
length the janissary who attended him, and who had
galloped away in panic fear, returned, together with
his Greek servant : they lifted him on a horse, and he
was thus carried to Jericho, where the secretary of the
governor, “the only Christian” there, provided him
with a shirt ; and some women, who came with their
pitchers to the pool near which he was laid, in spite of
his being a Christian, brought him a lemon and some
milk, -justifying the testimony borne by Mungo
Parke to the universal character of woman. The
monks have given the name of the field of Abdonim,
or blood, to a small, round, grassy valley, which they
have been pleased to fix upon as the real spot where
the facts supposed in the parable took place; and
here, two hundred years ago, Brocardus “fell among
thieves.” ” -
The modern village of Jericho is described by Mr.
Buckingham as a settlement of about fifty dwellings,
all very mean in their appearance, and fenced in front
with thorny bushes, while a barrier of the same kind,
the most effectual that could be raised against mounted
Arabs, encircles the town. A fine brook flows by it,
which empties itself into the Jordan: the nearest point
of that river is about three miles distant. The grounds
in the immediate vicinity of the village, being fertilized
by this stream, bear crops of dourra, Indian corn, rice,
and onions. The population is entirely Mahommedan,
and is governed by a sheikh; their habits are those of
Bedouins, and robbery and plunder form their chief
and most gainful occupation. They call the place
Rihhah, which signifies in Arabic Odowr ; and it is
from the near correspondence of this name of the
place, both in sound and signification, to the Hebrew
* Quaresmius, cited by Henniker, p. 985.
230 PALESTINE ; OR,
Rahab, (the name of the harlot who here entertained
the spies sent by Joshua) that it has been considered
as the identical site of Jericho, notwithstanding that
not a trace remains of the ancient city.”
Three or four miles, however, nearer Jerusalem, at
the very foot of the mountains, Mr. Buckingham
noticed the ruins of apparently a place of consequence.
Several large tumuli were observed, evidently the work
of art ; and near them “a large square area, enclosed
by long and regular mounds,” seeming to mark the
course of the walls. Foundations of walls, shafts of
columns, and a capital of the Corinthian order, are
described as lying in other directions. It is here,
he thinks, rather than at Rihhah, that the site of
Jericho must be fixed; its local situation, as well as its
distance from Jerusalem, exactly answering to the
description given by Josephus of the once flourishing
“city of palms.”4. At the present time there is not
a tree of any description, either palm or balsam, and
scarcely any verdure to be seen about the spot ; but
for this, the desolations of war, the want of water
occasioned by the destruction of the aqueducts, and
the neglect of cultivation, sufficiently account, as the
*
“ the famous city of Jericho, but at present so far from
retaining any thing of its former lustre, that one would question
whether there had ever been a city or town thereabouts; all that
is now to be seen being only some hovels of dried mud, the dwell-
ings of husbandmen and shepherds.” —VAN EGMONT's Travels,
vol. i. p. 332.
# “ It is situated in a plain; but a naked and barren mountain
of a very great length hangs over it, which extends itself to the
land about Scythopolis northward, and as far as the country of
Sodom and the utmost limit of the lake Asphaltites southward.
This mountain is all of it very uneven, and uninhabited by reason
of its barrenness.” “This place is 150 furlongs from Jerusalemn,
and sixty from Jordan.”—Jos EPH. Jew. Wars, lib. iv, cap. 8.
THE HOLY LAND . 231
fertility of the soil depended entirely on irrigation.”
The whole valley was once esteemed the most fruitful
in Judea ; and the obstimacy with which the Jews
fought here to prevent the balsam-trees from falling
into the possession of the Romans, attests the import-
ance which was attached to them. This tree Pliny
describes as peculiar to the vale of Jericho, and as
“more like a vine than a myrtle.” It was esteemed so
precious a rarity, that both Pompey and Titus carried
a specimen to Rome in triumph ; and the balsam,
owing to its scarcity, sold for double its weight in
silver, till its high price led to the practice of adultera-
tion. Justin makes it the chief source of the national
wealth. He describes the country in which it grew,
as a valley like a garden, environed with continual
hills, and, as it were, enclosed with a wall. “The
space of the valley contains 200,000 acres, and is called
Jericho. In that valley, there is wood as admirable
for its fruitfulness as for its delight, for it is inter-
mingled with palm-trees and opobalsamum. The trees
of the opobalsamum have a resemblance to fir-trees; +
but they are lower, and are planted and husbanded
after the manner of vines. On a set season of the
year they sweat balsam.: The darkness of the place
is besides as wonderful as the fruitfulness of it ; for
although the sun shines nowhere hotter in the world,
there is naturally a moderate and perpetual gloominess
* “ Locus feror, palmis abundans, totus irrigu ws.”—STRA Bo.
# Strabo describes it as resembling the turpentine-tree and the
laburnum—“cytiso et terebintho, persimilis.”
it Josephus says: ‘‘the sprouts being cut with sharp stones, at
the imcisions they gather the juice, which drops down like tears.”
—Jew. Wars, book i, chap. 7. Strabo deselibes it as resembling
milk, but it became thicker from standing ; and he speaks of its
arounatic odour,
$232 PALESTINE ; OR,
of the air.” According to Mr. Buckingham, this
description is most accurate. “Both the heat and
the gloominess,” he says, “were observed by us,
though darkness would be an improper term to apply
to this gloom.”
In a small wood to the south-east of Jericho,
Dr. Pococke noticed another singular shrub, which he
supposes to be the myrobalanum of Josephus and
Pliny. It is called by him the zoccum-tree; but
Maundrell, describing apparently the same “thorny
bush,” says that the Arabs call it zacho-ne. The
bark is like that of the holly; it has very strong
thorns, and the leaf is something like that of the
Barbary tree. It bears a green nut resembling, both
in shape and colour, a small unripe walnut : it is
ribbed, has a thick shell, and a very small kernel.
Maundrell says, that the Arabs bray the kernels in
a mortar, and then, putting the pulp into scalding
water, skim off the oil which rises. Pococke's account
varies: they grind the whole, he tells us, and press
an oil out of it, as they do out of olives, and call it a
balsam. “ This oil they take inwardly for bruises,”
adds the former traveller, “ and apply it outwardly
to green wounds, preferring it before balm of Gilead.
I procured a bottle of it, and have found it upon
small trials a very healing medicine.” What is called
the rose of Jericho, a species of thiaspi, was not to be
found at that season.
Beyond the modern village of Rihhah, the plain
extending to the Jordan becomes very barren, pro-
ducing nothing but a kind of samphire and other
marine plants. “I observed,” says Maundrell, “ in
many places of the road, where puddles of water had
stood, a whiteness upon the surface of the ground,
which, upon trial, I found to be a crust of salt, caused
THE HOLY LAND. 233
by the water to rise out of the earth, in the same
manner as it does every year in the Valley of Salt
near Aleppo, after the winter's inundation. These
saline efflorescences I found at some leagues’ distance
from the Dead Sea ; which demonstrates that the
whole valley must be all over plentifully impregnated
with that mineral.” Chateaubriand compares the
appearance of the soil to the bottom of a sea that
had long retired from its bed,—“a beach covered with
salt, dry mud and moving sands, furrowed as it were
by the waves. Here and there, stunted shrubs with
difficulty vegetate upon this inanimate tract; their
leaves are covered with salt, which has nourished them,
and their bark has a smoky smell and taste. Instead
of villages you perceive the ruins of a few towers.
Through the middle of this valley flows a discoloured
river, which reluctantly creeps towards the pestilential
lake by which it is engulfed. Its course amid the
sands can be distinguished only by the willows and
the reeds that border it ; and the Arab lies in ambush
among these reeds, to attack the traveller, and to
plunder the pilgrim.”
Less poetical, but more distinct, is the account
given by the Swedish Naturalist. He reached the
Jordan at three leagues’ distance from the Dead Sea.
The river was then about eight paces over; “the
shores perpendicular, six feet high ; the water deep,
muddy, rather warm than cold, and much inferior in
goodness to the Nile. On the shores grew rhamnus,
vitea agnºls castus, a willow of which pilgrims make
staves. The plain reaches to the Dead Sea, and is
three leagues long, level, with some small rising-
grounds" in different places, between which are nar-
* Maundrell says, these hillo-ks resemble those places in Eng-
land where there have been anciei.tly lime-kilns, “Whether
234 PALESTINE ; OR,
row vales, uncultivated and barren. The soil is a
greyish, sandy clay, so loose that our horses often
sunk up to the knees in it. The whole surface of the
earth was covered with salt, in the same manner as in
Egypt. The soil, therefore, is Egyptian, and might
be as fruitful if it were tilled ; and without doubt it
was so in the time of the Israelites. The river had
thrown up a quantity of willow at its mouth. The
shore consists of the same clay as the plain we had
passed over. In several places were perpendicular
strata of a reddish brittle earth, which will, without
doubt, in time become slate inclosed in limestone.
The stones on the shore were all quartz, of different
colours and sizes.”
About half a mile from the river Jordan, near the
part where the Latin pilgrims bathe, there are the
ruins of a church and convent dedicated to John the
Baptist, — “founded,” says Maundrell, “as near as
could be conjectured, on the very place where he had
the honour to perform his sacred office.” The schis-
matical Greeks, however, are of a different opinion,
and where the Latins turn to the N.E., they turn
to the S.E., to a part of the river three or four miles
lower down. The convent was built chiefly of hewn
stone, on the brow of a descent over the plain ; and
“it is thought” that formerly the river Jordan over-
flowed to the foot of this height. But, says Pococke,
“ as the banks are about fifteen feet high, I should
hardly have imagined that it ever overflowed them,
nor could I be informed that it does at present.” The
learned traveller is here speaking of the higher or
outer bank of the river, from which there is a descent
these might be the pits at which the kings of Sodom and Gomor-
rah were overthrown by the four kings, Gen. xiv. 10, i will not
determine.”
THE HOLY LAND. 235
in many places to a lower ground, only four or five
feet above the water. There is no doubt that an-
ciently, at certain seasons, (in particular in the first
month of the Hebrew year, March,) the river over-
flowed its inner bank.” But at present, says Maun-
drell, “whether it be because the river has, by its
rapidity of current, worn its channel deeper than it
was formerly, or whether because its waters are di-
verted some other way, it seems to have forgot its
ancient greatness; for we could discern no sign or
probability of such overflowings when we were there,
which was the 30th of March, being the proper time
for these inundations. Nay, so far was the river from
overflowing, that it ran at least two yards below the
brink of its channel.” Pococke was there at the same
time of year, the last week in March ; Hasselquist
about a fortnight later; Chateaubriand in October.
This accounts for his different account of the current
of the Jordan, which he represents as sluggish,-re-
luctantly creeping to the Dead Sea. Pococke describes
it, on the contrary, as “deep and very rapid, wider
than the Tiber at Rome, and perhaps about as wide
as the Thames at Windsor; the water turbid.” He
adds, that the pilgrims who dip in the river are obliged
to hold by the boughs of the trees, “ because the bank
is both soft and steep, and the stream so rapid, that
there is some danger of being carried away by it, if
any one ventured in without holding by the boughs;
for in that case a person must be skilful in swimming,
in order to recover the bank, some pilgrims having
been drowned, who unadvisedly ventured into the
river.” The women, therefore, stand on the bank,
and “being stripped to their under-garment, get the
* Joshua iii. 15. 1 Chron. xii. 15. Jor. Rii. 5.
236 PALESTINE ; OR,
people to pour the water on them. The Rev. Mr.
Connor, who accompanied the Greek pilgrims to the
Jordan, in April 1820, says that, at the spot where
they bathed, the water appeared turbid, but not deep.
Its breadth, he thinks, may be about twenty yards.
“Some Turkish horsemen dashed through the river,
and rode to and fro in the grove on the opposite side,
to protect the pilgrims from the guns of the Bedouins,
many of whom were assembled to watch the cere-
mony.” The Jordan here, he adds, is beautifully
picturesque. Van Egmont too says: “ The Greeks
and Armenians, both men, women, and children, rush
into this river with the greatest raptures; and some,
who affect a more than ordinary devotion, have water
poured on their heads, in memory of our Saviour's
baptism.” He notices the remarkable rapidity of the
current. But this apparent contradiction is easily
reconciled. Pococke accompanied the Latin pilgrims
to a part of the river, between three and four miles
higher up, where the stream is narrower, and conse-
quently deeper and more rapid. The Greeks have
chosen the more convenient bathing-place.
The periodical rise of the river must vary, indeed,
according to the duration or quantity of the rains;
but it is still very considerable, although, according
to Maundrell’s accurate conjecture, its channel is no
doubt worn deeper, and it may have suffered a dimi-
nution in its waters from other circumstances. Mr.
Buckingham crossed the Jordan in the last week in
January : the river was then at its lowest ebb, flowing
between banks fourteen or fifteen feet high. At the
point where he crossed, which was a little more to the
northward, it did not appear above twenty-five yards
in breadth, and was easily fordable by horses. The
stream was still “exceeding rapid,” but, “ from its
THE HO ſ, Y L.A. N. D. 237
flowing over a bed of pebbles, tolerably clear” and
sweet. Assuming these various statements to be cor-
rect, it would seem that, between the end of January
and the end of March, the Jordan rises at this part,
from nine to ten perpendicular feet—a height quite
sufficient to produce a very extensive inundation,
when its channel was shallower. This rise appears to
be rapid, being occasioned by the mountain torrents
formed by the early and the latter rains. The second
bank (which is, according to Maundrell, about a
furlong distant from the outer one, but the width of
this lower plain varies) is “ so beset with bushes and
trees, such as tamarisk, willows, oleander, &c., that
you can see no water till you have made your way
through them. In this thicket anciently,” he adds,
“ and the same is reported of it at this day, several
sorts of wild beasts were wont to harbour themselves ;
whose being washed out of the covert by the over-
flowings of the river, gave occasion to that allusion,
Jer. xlix. 19 ; l. 44. ‘He shall come up like a lion
from the swelling of Jordan.” On the other side
there seemed to be a much larger thicket, than on that
where we were.”
Mr. Buckingham was informed by his Arab guides,
that, about a day's journey to the southward of
Jericho, at the foot of the mountains, is a place called
Merthah, “ supposed to be the site of a city of the
giants,” where there are many sepulchral caves, from
which had been taken human skulls and bones of at
least three times the size of those of the human race
at the present day: these the Arabs professed to have
themselves seen and handled. Mr. Buckingham con-
jectures that this Merthah may be the Maresha or
Marissa of Josephus. Mareshah was among the cities
built or fortified by Rehoboam : it was in the tribe
338 PALESTINE ; OR,
of Judah, and apparently not far from Hebron.” The
Jewish historian mentions the bones of giants that
were in his time shewn near the latter city.
At about two hours’ distance northward of Rihhah,
Mr. Buckingham noticed the ruins of a fine Roman
aqueduct, at the distance of a mile to his left: there
appeared to be about twenty arches still perfect. In
this direction was Cypros, one of the cities built by
Herod, and named in honour of his mother. Near
this spot, too, our traveller remarks, must have stood
the ancient city of Ai or Hai,"t which was to the east
of Bethel, that lay in the hills. Proceeding about half
an hour further to the north, over the same kind of
plain, “we opened on our left,” says this same travel-
ler, “a beautiful valley, now highly cultivated, and
spread over with a carpet of the freshest verdure,
seemingly of young corn. This place, we are told, is
called Waad-el-Farah, or the Valley of Farah ; and
a town was spoken of near it, in the side of the hill,
bearing the same name, and larger and more populous
than Rihhah.” The situation corresponds, apparently,
to that of Phasaelus, a city in the Valley of Jericho,
built by Herod, and named in honour of his brother. :
At this point, which they estimated to be little more
than six miles north of Rihhah, the travellers turned
eastward to cross the Jordan ; where, for the present,
We leave them, and, returning to the Jewish capital,
prepare to set out for Galilee, and the shores of the
far-famed Lake of Tiberias, in our way to which we
must needs pass through Samaria. § Here we shall
* Jos. Antiq, lib. xii. cap, 8; lib. xiii. cap. 15.
f Gen. xii. 8; xiii. 3. Josh. vii. 2; viii. 12. Ezra ii. 28. Neh
vii. 32.
f Buckingham's Travels, vol. ii. p. 88. § John iv. 4.
THE HOLY LAND. 239
again join company with Dr. Richardson, who, in the
suite of Earl Belmore, took this route to Damascus.
ROUTE TO NABLOUS AND TIBERIAS.
For some hours after leaving Jerusalem, the route
to the north lies over a rugged and mountainous
country, which, though susceptible of cultivation by
being terraced," now presents an aspect of frightful
nakedness and sterility. The road, if it may be
called such, is rough and stony ; and no object of
interest occurs before the traveller arrives at Beer,
which is three hours and a half (about ten miles) from
Jerusalem. The name of the place is derived from
its well, which Beer signifies. It seems, Dr. Richard-
son says, to have been once a place of considerable
consequence; and Maundrell supposed it to be the
Beer referred to Judges ix. 21, to which Jotham fled
from the revenge of Abimelech. “It is supposed
also,” he adds, “to be the same with Michmash,
* “For the husbanding of these mountains, their manner was,
to gather up the stones, and place them in several lines, along the
sides of hills, in form of a wall. By such borders they supported
the mould from tumbling, or being washed down ; and formed
many beds of excellent soil, rising gradually one above another,
from the bottom to the top of the mountains. Of this form of
culture you see evident footsteps wherever you go in all the
mountains of Palestine. Thus the very rocks were made fruit.
ful. “The hills, though improper for all cattle, except goats, yet,
being disposed into such beds as are before described, served very
well to bear corn, melons, gourds, cucumbers, and such like garden-
stuff, which make the principal food of these countries for seve-
ral months in the year. The most rocky parts of all, which could
not well be adjusted in that manner for the production of corn.
might yet serve for the plantation of vines and olive-trees, which
delight to extract, the one its fatness, the other its sprightly juice
chiefly out of such dry and flinty places.”—MAUN of Eul’s Journey
jºm Aleppo, &c.
240 PALESTINE ; OR,
1 Sam. xiv. 5.” But Reland, on the authority of
Eusebius, places Michmash nearer Jerusalem, in the
direction of Rama. Close to the well, which is at
the bottom of the declivity on which stands the vil-
lage, are the mouldering walls of a ruined khan; and
on the summit of the hill, two large arches still remain
of a ruined convent—Maundrell calls it an old church,
and says it was built by the empress Helena, in com-
memoration of the Virgin’s coming as far as this spot
in quest of the child Jesus, as related Luke x. 24 |
A little beyond Beer two roads meet: that on the
right conducts to Nablous. “After two hours' travel-
ling along the same rocky path,” says Dr. Richardson,
“we passed the village of Einbroot, which is finely
situated on our left, on the top of a hill. The ad-
joining valley is well cultivated, and the sides of the
hills are raised in terraces, and planted with the olive,
the vine, and the fig-tree. On approaching Einbroot,
the guide of the caravan called out for us to march
in close order. Here it was reported that we were in
danger of being attacked by banditti, and that the
muskets were seen pointed at us over the stones ; but
upon the guide, who rode considerably in advance,
informing them who the party were whom they meant
to attack, that they travelled under the protection of
a firman from the Porte and the pasha of Acre, and,
what was, perhaps, as powerful a dissuasive, that we
were armed, and could fight as well as they could,
they withdrew their weapons of offence, and remained
quiet. A little further on we passed two villages on
our left, the names of which I did not learn.” The
road lay partly through a rocky dell, and partly
through a narrow cultivated valley; but the general
* Maundrell mentions an Arab village, which he calls Sélwid,
, a little beyond Geeb, and on the same side of the route.
THE HOLY LAND. 241
aspect of the country was particularly wild and barren.
The next village that we passed was called Engeeb,
also on the top of a hill on the left, and the adjoining
ground was well cultivated in the same manner. After
this, we passed a fine-looking picturesque hill, every
way susceptible of cultivation, at the foot of which
we entered the small valley of Khan Leban, where we
found the ruins of an old khan, with many mouldering
vaults, and a plentiful spring of clear water, much
infested with small worms. It derives its name from
a village called Leban, at the other end of the valley.
It is eight hours from Jerusalem. Here we pitched
our tents for the night, the place being agreeable and
convenient, with plenty of grass for the animals.
Maundrell describes this spot as “a delicious vale,”
and says, that either Khan Leban, which is on the
eastern side, or the village which is on the opposite
side, is supposed to be the site of the ancient Lebo-
nah. He notices also a village called Cinga, lying
at some distance on the traveller's left, about three
quarters of an hour south of Khan Leban ; and, be-
tween this and Engeeb, he describes a very narrow
valley between two high rocky hills, where he found
the ruins of a village and a monastery, supposed to
mark the site of the ancient Bethel, which was on the
confines of Ephraim and Benjamin. The monastery
is almost sufficient to awake the suspicion that this
was not Bethel : possibly, the Arabs, who are the
best authorities, could decide the point, as they have
almost uniformly preserved the ancient names. But
neither the empress Helena nor the monks ever
thought of consulting them. -
“Having passed the village of Leban,” continues
Dr. Richardson, “the road, winding with the valley,
proceeds in a northern direction. Here the ground
PART I I. P
242 PALESTINE ; OR,
is rich and well cultivated, and several ploughs were
busily engaged. We next passed the village of Zanio,
and, travelling for a considerable time over a moun-
tainous and barren track, descended into a fertile
valley, where we found the reapers cutting down an
excellent crop of barley. Here are three comfortable-
looking villages near each other ; the first is named
Cousa, the second Anabous, and the third Couara.
We are now about two hours and a half from Nablous.
The ground in this valley is remarkably stony, but
well cultivated. Having ascended the hill, we passed
on our right the tomb of the patriarch Joseph, situated
in the plain below. It is now a Turkish oratory
with a whitened dome, like the tomb of his mother
Rachel on the road between Jerusalem and Bethle-
hem. At a little distance, in the same plain, and
nearer to the mountain, probably Gerizim, we saw
another building resembling the tomb of an Arab
sheikh, and said to be Jacob's Well. At the top of
the hill we opened a fine olive grove, with a stream of
water in front of it. Here, being anxious to have a
view of Jacob’s Well, we proceeded across the field
in that direction, but had not advanced far before we
were assailed by prohibitory calls from a small fort
on the side of the hill ; to which, however, as we did
not understand them, we, at first, paid no attention ;
but the calls were speedily followed by the discharge
of a musket fired across our front. This arrested
our progress, and drew our attention to the place from
which it came. Upon this the calls were redoubled,
and our guide coming up informed us, that we were
addressed by the guard who was placed there to keep
the pass, and that we could not proceed to Jacob's
Well. We had previously been informed that the
Arabs around Nablous were in arms against the
THE HOLY LAND. 243
governor ; but this is the only specimen of Turkish
vigilance that occurred to us on the road. We saw
no symptoms of rebellion among the Arabs.”
Here again the question presents itself, Is this the
well of the patriarch whose name it now bears & Who
gave it this name, the natives or the Christians 2
Dr. Clarke, who can be sometimes incredulons, but
at other times very confiding, says, that “this is
allowed by all writers” to be the spot referred to,
John iv. 6, where our Saviour had the memorable
conference with the Samaritan woman. The con-
currence of “all writers” cannot throw the least light
on the fact; as one after another has but repeated the
legend handed down from the days of that “great and
devout patroness of the Holy Land,” as honest Maun-
drell slyly calls the empress Helena, who is said to
have built a church over the well of which “a few
foundations”" were then remaining. This faithful
traveller, however, notices as a difficulty, the distance
at which this well is situated from the modern city.
“If it should be questioned,” he says, “whether this
be the very well that it is pretended for, or no, seeing
it may be suspected to stand too remote from Sychar
for women to come so far to draw water, it is an-
swered, that probably the city extended further this
way in former times than it does now, as may be
conjectured from some pieces of a very thick wall still
to be seen not far from hence. These pieces of wall
are but a sorry voucher for the supposed extension of
the city eastward, so far beyond the present walls; +
* Mr. Buckingham says, “ sonne shafts of granite pillars, all
the rest lying in one undistinguished heap of ruins,”
t This supposition is, indeed, at once overthrown by Mr.
Buckingham's statement, that between this well and the town
are some ameient sepulchres, which must have been without the
city.
244 PALESTINE ; OR,
and they are quite as likely to be the work of the said
empress. The simple circumstance of the distance
of this well from Sychar (above a mile), would not,
however, disprove its identity, were there no springs
nearer the town, or were there no other reason for
hesitation. But Mr. Buckingham states, that, on in-
quiring of the inhabitants for the Bir (or Beer) el
Yakoab, he was told by everybody that this was in
the town. As this information did not correspond to
the “ described place of the well,” it led to further
explanation ; and, “at length by telling the story
attached to it, we found,” he says, “it was known
here only by the name of Beer Samareea, or the Well
of Samaria.” It is not a little singular, that this
traveller should not, so far as appears, have visited
what now bears the name of Jacob’s Well. That
name may have been arbitrarily or ignorantly given
to it by the Turks; otherwise, it would be highly
deserving of attention. It is plain, from the marative
of St. John, that Jacob’s Well, where our Lord rested
while the disciples went forward into the city to buy
meat, was at some short distance from Sychar ; and
consequently, the Beer el Yakoab, if absolutely within.
the town, can hardly be entitled to the appellation.
Mr. Buckingham notices, however, a third well, “not
far from the Well of Samaria,” called the Beer Yusef,
or Joseph's Well, over which there is a modern build-
ing ; and “it is said to be even at this day frequented
for water from Nablous.” The Well of Samaria
might, therefore, he remarks, also have been so from
Sychar. But if this third well really derives its name
from the patriarch Joseph, to whom Jacob gave the
parcel of ground containing the place of sepulchre
“ before the city,” it is very possible that this Beer
* Gen. xxxiii. 18, 19. Josh. xxiv. 32. John iv. 5.
THE HOLY LAND. 245
Yusef may be the well on which our Lord sat : it
would be correctly referred to as Jacob’s Well by the
evangelist, although it. bore the name of his son. It
must be left to future travellers to decide on the pro-
babilities of the case. In the meantime, we return to
the account given us of the “Well of Samaria.”
Having procured a Christian boy for a guide, Mr.
Buckingham left Nablous by the eastern gate, and
after passing along the valley for about a quarter of
an hour, he arrived at the spot where the pass opens
into a more extensive vale, the mountains on the
other side of the Jordan being in sight on the left.
Here he had on each side grottoes and tombs, which
we shall presently notice ; and from hence, in another
quarter of an hour, he reached the Well of Samaria.”
“It stands,” he says, “at the commencement of the
round vale which is thought to be the parcel of ground
bought by Jacob, and which, like the narrow valley
west of Nablous, is rich and fertile. The mouth of
the well itself had an arched or vaulted building over
it ; and the only passage down to it at this moment
is by a small hole in the roof, scarcely large enough
for a moderate-sized person to work himself through.”
Taking off his large Turkish clothes, our traveller
descended with a lighted taper, but even then did not
get down without bruising himself against the sides.
“Nor was I,” he says, “at all rewarded for such an
inconvenience by the sight below. Landing on a heap
of dirt and rubbish, we saw a large, flat, oblong stone,
which lay almost on its edge across the mouth of the
well, and left barely space enough to see that there
was an opening below. We could not ascertain its
diameter, but, by the time of a stone’s descent, it was
* Maundrell makes “Jacob's Well” “ about one third of an hour
from Naplosa.”
P 2 i
246 PALESTINE ; OR,
evident that it was of considerable depth, as well as
that it was perfectly dry at this season (Feb.), the
fall of the stone giving forth a dead and hard sound.” "
Maundrell removed the “broad flat stone” which lay
on the mouth, and examined the well more minutely.
“It is,” he says, “ dug in a firm rock, and contains
about three yards in diameter and thirty-five in depth;
Jive of which we found full of water.” This was the
latter end of March. “This confutes a story,” he
adds, “ commonly told to travellers, who do not take
the pains to examine the well, viz. that it is dry all
the year round, except on the anniversary of that day
on which our blessed Saviour sat upon it, but then
bubbles up with abundance of water.” One would
imagine, that the “old stone vault” built over the
spot was designed to protect the legend, rather than
the well, by concealing it from examination. If this
were really the well to which the inhabitants of Sychar
were accustomed to resort, it would be difficult to ac-
count for its having been thus abandoned.
Nablous (as it is pronounced by the Turks and
Arabs, or Naplosa, as the Christians who speak Italian
call it—a corruption of Neapolis, or New Town) is
one of the few places in the Holy Land, the ancient
name of which appears to be superseded by that
which it has received from its foreign conquerors.
Its position identifies the site, beyond all question,
with the Shechem of the Old Testament + and the
Sychar (or Sichem, as Jerome contends it should be)
of the New, the ancient capital of Samaria. Josephus
says, that the natives called it Mabartha, but by
others it was commonly called Neapolis. : Few places
* Buckingham's Travels, 8vo. vol. ii. p. 460.
f Gen. xxxiii. 18; xxxvii. 13. Josh. xxiv. 32. Judges ix.
# Joseph. Wars, book iv. chap, 8; book v. chap. 4.
THE HOLY LAND. 247
exceed it in the romantic beauty of its position. It is
situated in the narrow valley between Mount Ebal
and Mount Gerizim, having the former on the north,
and the latter on the south ; but it is correctly de-
scribed by Maundrell as lying under Mount Gerizim,
being built at the acclivity on the southern side of the
valley. It was from Mount Gerizim that God com-
manded the blessings to be pronounced upon the
children of Israel, and from Mount Ebal the curses,
respectively annexed to obedience and disobedience,
on their entering the promised land by way of Jericho
and Ai : half of the tribes were to be encamped over
against the one hill, and half over against the other. *
The modern town consists of two long streets, running
through the centre of the valley, and intersected by
several smaller ones, mostly crossing them at right
angles. At the present time it is populous and
flourishing, and the environs bear the marks of opu.
lence and industry, being adorned with small gardens
that skirt the banks of the stream by which the valley
is watered. “We passed,” says Dr. Richardson,
“ its scarcely moistened bed, and a little above the
town saw an ancient bridge with twelve arches, which
were still capable of maintaining the communication
between the two sides of the valley.” Dr. Clarke,
in approaching it from Jennin, was struck with its
flourishing appearance. “There is nothing in the
Holy Land finer,” he affirms, “ than the view of
Napolose from the heights around it. As the traveller
descends towards it from the hills, it appears luxuri-
antly embosomed in the most delightful and fragrant
bowers, half concealed by rich gardens, and by stately
trees collected into groves all around the bold and -
* Deut. xi. 29; xxvii. 12, 13. Josh. viii. 33.
248 PALESTINE ; OR,
beautiful valley in which it stands.” “Within
the town are six mosques, five baths, one Christian
church of schismatic Greeks, an excellent covered
bazar for fine goods, and an open one for provisions,
besides numerous cotton-cloth manufactories, and shops
of every description.” “ Dr. Clarke says, the prin-
cipal trade is in soap ; but the manufactures of the
town supply a very widely extended neighbourhood.
The water-melons too of Nablous are equal, he says,
to those of Jaffa. The resident population is supposed
to amount to 10,000, though Mr. Buckingham thinks
this is rather over-rating the numbers. These are
almost all Mahommedans, the Greek Christians scarcely
amounting, he says, to fifty. But Mr. Connor states
that there are about a hundred. They have one
church and two priests. Though the commerce is so
considerable, there are few Jews, owing perhaps to a
religious prejudice against the place; Mr. Bucking-
ham says, none among the permanent residents,
Mr. Connor says, “about fifteen individuals.” Of
the Samaritans, of whom a respectable remnant existed
here so late as the time of Maundrell's journey, about
a century ago, + the reverend gentleman last men-
tioned gives the following interesting account. “I
immediately made inquiry about the Samaritans. My
host stepped ont, and fetched their priest : he sat with
me some time : his name is Shalmor ben Tabiah : he
is a native of Napolose, and is about forty years of
age.
* Buckingham's Travels, vol. ii. p. 433.
* In the Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin, Nablous is stated to
contain above 100 Cutheans, or Samaritans. He mentions
Cesarea as another place where there still remained a remnant
(about 200) of this people. There are said to be still some
descendants of the Samaritans at Gaza, Damascus, and Grand
Cairo.
THE HOLY LAND. 249
“There are about forty Samaritans in Napolose.
They have but one synagogue in the town, where they
have service every Saturday. Four times a-year they
go, in solemn procession, to the old synagogue on
Mount Gerizim; and, on these occasions, they go up
before sunrise, and read the law till noon. On one
of these days they kill six or seven rams. The Sa-
maritans have one school in Napolose, where their
language is taught. The head of the sect resides in
Paris.
“I accompanied the priest to his house, and sat a
long time with him. There were several Jews pre-
sent: they seem to live on friendly terms with the
Samaritans here. The priest shewed me part of the
first volume of the English Polyglott, mentioned by
Maundrell : it consisted of about a dozen tattered
leaves. He shewed me also a manuscript Samaritan
Pentateuch, with an Arabic version at its side ; this
version, however, is not used in their synagogue. He
afterward took me to see the synagogue, making me
first take off my shoes: it is a small gloomy building.
I observed a number of copies of the Samaritan Penta-
teuch, carefully enveloped in linen, and laid on a shelf
in the synagogue. Expressing a wish to see the
ancient manuscript, said by the Samaritans to be
3500 years old, the priest paused, and hesitated some
time. I pressed him. Having laid aside his upper
garments, he at length entered the sanctuary, and
produced the venerated manuscript. It is well written
on vellum, in the Samaritan character, and is pre-
served in a tin roller : it bears the marks of age, and
is rather tattered. The priest would not permit me,
nor any one present, to touch it. He was very in-
quisitive about the Samaritans who, he had heard,
were in England.”
250 PALESTINE ; OR,
The accounts which we have of the ancient Sama-
ritans, (or Cuthaeans, as they are called by the Jewish
writers, from the founder of the sect, Sanballad, a
Cuthite,) have come to us chiefly through their inve-
terate enemies the Jews; whose contempt and hatred
were apparently excited by their being a mixed race,
of doubtful genealogy, and schismatical in their creed.
In rejecting the whole of the Old Testament excepting
the Pentateuch, they were countenanced by the Sad-
ducees. Our Lord, however, declares, that they
worshipped they knew not what ; * which seems to
imply that, although they cherished, in common with
the Jews, the expectation of a Messiah, their worship
had still an idolatrous tincture: they “feared the
Lord,” but, if they did not still “serve graven
images;” like their ancestors, ºf they did not worship
God as a Spirit. Notwithstanding their enmity against
the Jews, they joined in revolt against the Romans,
and shared in the calamities of the guilty nation.
After the fall of Jotapata and Jaffa, eleven thousand
six hundred of them are stated to have posted them-
selves on Mount Gerizim ; as if, like the Jews of
Jerusalem, trusting to the protection of their temple, or
resolved to perish on the sacred spot. The Roman
general Cerealis, with 600 horsemen and 300 footmen,
blockaded them here ; and after inviting them to sur-
render, which they obstimately refused, put the greater
part to the sword. Five centuries after the Christian
era, the Samaritans, who still remained a distinct
though motley race, had so increased in strength, that
they rose in arms, under the standard of a desperate
leader, to protect themselves against the persecution of
the Emperor Justinian. They were, says Gibbon,
“an ambiguous sect, rejected as Jews by the Pagans,
# John iv. 22. # 2 Kings xv.1i, 41.
-
THE {{O},Y I, A N 1). 251
by the Jews as schismatics, and by the Christians as
idolaters One hundred thousand, it has been com-
puted, perished or were sold as captives in the Sama-
ritan war, which converted the once fertile province
into a wilderness.”” A remnant, however, have
always rallied on this consecrated spot, under the
shadow of Mount Gerizim. In 1676, a correspond-
ence took place between their chief-priest at Nabłous
and the learned Scaliger, on the differences between
the Samaritan and Hebrew Pentateuchs, in the course
of which information was elicited respecting the opi-
nions then held by this ancient sect. The summary
of their creed was to this effect: That they believe in
God, and in the laws of his servant Moses ; they prac-
tise circumcision; keep the sabbath with all the rigour
of a penance; observe the Passover, the Pentecost,
the feast of tabernacles, and the great fast of expiation
most strictly ; and never offer any sacrifice but on
Mount Gerizim. The head of their religion must
reside at Shechem. In 1697, Mr. Maundrell had a
personal conference with the Samaritan chief-priest,
on the subject of a singular discrepancy between the
text of the Samaritan Pentateuch and the received
Hebrew text. The passage in question occurs Deut.
xxvii. 4: “Therefore it shall be, when ye be gone
over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which
I command you this day” (inscribed with the words of
the law) “ in Mount Ebal; and thou shalt plaster
them with plaster ; and there shalt thou build an
altar unto the Lord thy God.” + The Samaritan
* Gibbon, vol. vi. chap. 47
+ In agreement with this, Joshua is recorded to have subse-
quently built the altar in Mount Ebal. Josh. viii. 30. The al-
leged corruption of the text must, theretire, have been made in
both places.
252 PALESTINE ; OR,
Pentateuch has Mount Gerizim in this place; and the
chief-priest contended that the Jews had maliciously
altered the Hebrew text out of odium to the Samaritans;
“ putting, for Gerizim, Ebal, upon no other account,
but only because the Samaritans worshipped in the
former mountain, which they would have for that
reason not to be the true place appointed by God for
his worship and sacrifice. To confirm this, he pleaded
that Ebal was the mountain of cursing, Deut. xi. 29,
and in its own nature an unpleasant place ; but, on
the contrary, Gerizim was the mountain of blessing,
by God's own appointment, and also in itself fertile
and delightful ; from whence he inferred a probability
that this latter must have been the true mountain
appointed for those religious festivals, Deut. xxvii. 4,
and not (as the Jews have corruptly written it) Hebal.
We observed that to be in some measure true which
he pleaded concerning the nature of both mountains;
for, though neither of the mountains has much to boast
of as to their pleasantness, yet, as one passes between
them, Gerizim seems to discover a somewhat more
verdant, fruitful aspect than Ebal. The reason of
which may be, because fronting towards the north, it
is sheltered from the heat of the sum by its own shade;
whereas Ebal, looking southward, and receiving the
sum that comes directly upon it, must, by consequence,
be rendered more scorched and unfruitful. The Sa-
maritan priest could not say that any of those great
stones which God directed Joshua to set up, were
now to be seen in Mount Gerizim ; which were they
now extant, would determine the question clearly on
his side.”
Both Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal deserve to
be explored. Their altitude appeared to Mr. Bucking-
ham to be nearly equal, not exceeding 7 or 800 feet
from the level of the valley, which is itself elevated.
Üaptains Irby and Mangles are the only modern
travellers who appear to have ascended either. They
say: “We went to the summit of Mount Gerizim,
and found the ruins of a large town, with a tank
near a conspicuous sheikh's tomb.” They do not
appear, however, to have bestowed much attention
on these ruins, among which some traces of their
boasted temple must, one would innagine, be still
discernible ; nor do they notice any synagogue there.
Mount Ebal they did not ascend." In the Itinerary
of Benjamin of Tudela, the Cutheans are stated to
offer sacrifice on Mount Gerizim, on an altar con-
structed of stones bronght from the Jordan by the
children of Israel. He describes this mountain as
full of fountains and gardens, and Gheba! (Ebal)
as arid and rocky. As a topographical authority,
the Itinerary is unquestionable. With regard to
the point at issue, it may be thought only to state
the matter agreeably to the Samaritan tradition.
There is certainly much plausibility in the arguments
in favour of the Samaritan text; which, in many
other instances of variation from the received text,
is admitted by Biblical critics to preserve the ge-
nuine reading. It is very probable, that a further
collation of Hebrew MSS. will throw some light on
the question.
The town is governed by a Mutsellim, or Beg,
subject to the Pasha of Damascus, and having under
his command about 400 Arnaout soldiers. The pre-
vailing costume is the Turkish dress: the women
wear a coloured veil, concealing the whole face, as
* Dr. Richardson says: “On Mount Ebal we saw a considerable
village, and a large building like a ruined fort.”
wscend its summit.
PART I I. Q
But he did not
254 PALESTINE ; or,
in the towns qf the Yemen ; the scarf thrown over
the head and shoulders is of a yellowish white,
with a deep red border. Nablous is in long. 359
22 E. lat. 32° 16' N. ; and is thirty-four miles N. of
Jerusalem.
The only object of antiquity noticed by travellers
within the town, is the eastern front of a ruined
church, the site of which is now occupied by one
of the mosques. It presents a fine pointed arch,
supported by Corinthian columns, the upper part
highly ornamented, in the style of some of the
Saracen doors in Cairo; within are seen plain granite
pillars; and the whole exhibits, Mr. Buckingham tells
us, a singular mixture of orders, in the most grotesque
taSte.
Just without the city, towards Jerusalem, is a small
mosque, said to have been built over the sepulchre
purchased by the patriarch Jacob, and bearing the
name of Joseph’s Sepulchre : it is at the foot of
Mount Gerizim. Mr. Buckingham, noticing the
Mahommedan buildings here, “ either mosques or
tombs,” says, they are now called Mahmoodea. “On
the left,” he adds, “at the foot of Mount Ebal, were
several well-hewn grottoes in the rock, some with
arched, and others with square doors, most probably
ancient sepulchres.” They were called Khallat Rowgh-
ban, which he interprets to mean, the retreats of
hermits ; khallat meaning properly a castle, and
zowghban being a name given in Syria to monks.
These he had no time to examine, although the most
interesting antiquities of the place. That these caves
may have been used as places of retreat or ascetic
seclusion, is very probable ; but there is no room to
doubt their sepulchral character. They may, or may
not, be of remote antiquity; but of this description,
THE HOLY LAND. 255
and not far distant, must have been the burial-place
of Joseph, whose bones were brought up out of Egypt
to be laid in Shechem. To the practice of burying in
the sides of mountains, we have repeated references
in the Old Testament. Abraham was buried in the
Cave of Machpelah before Mamre ; Joshua, on the
north side of the Hill of Gaash in Ephraim ; * Eleazar,
the son of Aaron, in a hill within the same district :
and Aaron himself in Mount Hor.- The “parcel
of ground” given by Jacob to his son, is generally
supposed to be the “wide field,” as Maundrell terms
it, into which the Valley of Sichem opens at the Well
of Samaria; and which he describes as “exceeding
verdant and fruitful,” being watered with a fresh
stream, rising between it and the town. The precise
limits of this purchase it would be ºridiculous to at-
tempt to ascertain. All that we know is, that it was
near Sichar, “before,” or eastward of the city ; that
it contained a well—a possession of the greatest
importance in those parts ; and, like “ the field of
Ephron” purchased by Abraham,: a burying-place.
A place of burial seems to have given a sacredness to
the property in which it was situated, and to have
rendered the inheritance inalienable ; it established a
right of proprietorship, and, connected with this, what
we should call a right of common to the neighbouring
pastures.S Thus, we find the sons of Jacob leaving
their father's residence in Hebron, to feed his flocks
in Shechem, by virtue of this right, long after he
had been compelled to remove from the neighbour-
hood. The burial-place was, no doubt, (as that of
* Gen. xxv. 9. Josh. xxiv. 22, 29.
† Nunm. XX. 28. Deut. x. 6.
it Gen. xxiii. 17. § Gen. xxxiv. 5.
| Gen. xxxvii. J2–14.
256 PALESTINE ; OR,
Abraham and that of Joshua were,) at the “end of
the field,” on the “border of the inheritance,” which
must have been Mount Gerizim itself; and, if the
mosque should prove to conceal the entrance to a
lateral excavation or grotto, of the kind universally
chosen for sepulchres of distinguished persons by the
ancient Jews, it may possibly mark the identical
place “in Shechem where the bones of Joseph were
laid.”
Next to Jerusalem itself, this is, perhaps, the most
interesting spot in the Holy Land, as connected with
those events transacted in the fields of Sichem, which,
from our earliest years, are remembered with delight.
“Along the valley,” says Dr. Clarke, “we beheld
a company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, as in
the days of Reuben and Judah, “ with their camels,
bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh,” who would
gladly have purchased another Joseph of his brethren,
and conveyed him, as a slave, to some Potiphar in
Egypt. Upon the hills around, flocks and herds were
feeding as of old ; nor, in the simple garb of the
shepherds of Samaria, was there any thing to contra-
dict the notions we may entertain of the appearance
formerly exhibited by the sons of Jacob.” “ The
morning after our arrival, we met caravans coming
from Grand Cairo, and noticed others reposing in the
large olive-plantations near the gates.” -
Leaving Nablous, the road lies along the narrow
vale, and, in about three quarters of an hour, conducts
the traveller to a copious spring of good water, called
Beer-sheba. This, Dr. Richardson says, is the
broadest and best cultivated part of the valley; he
saw the natives busily engaged (May) in reaping a
* Gen. xxxvii. 25.
THE HOLY LAND. 257.
scanty crop of barley. Maundrell notices a village
on the left of the road (going northwards) called
Barseba, deriving its name, no doubt, from this well ;
and, half an hour further, another village which he
calls Sherack. After leaving Beer-sheba, Dr. Richard-
son’s account makes the road ascend. “In about a
quarter of an hour,” he says, “we reached the top
of the hill ; and as we wound our way down the other
side, had an excellent view of the delightfully situated
Sebaste. In a few minutes we passed a ruined aque-
duct of Roman architecture, and pitched our tents at
the bottom of the hill, nearly opposite to its unworthy
successor, a poor village of the same name ; having
travelled this day about nine hours.” This makes
the distance from Khan Leban about twenty-seven
miles, but, allowing for deviations from the direct
track, twenty-four miles, and sixteen hours, or forty-
eight miles, from Jerusalem. Josephus, however,
makes it but one day's journey from the capital."
It is six miles beyond Napolose ; and if the distance of
the latter place is correctly given by our authorities, it
cannot exceed forty miles.
Sebaste is the name which Herod gave to the
ancient Samaria, the imperial city of the ten tribes,
in honour of Augustus (Sebastos) Caesar, when he
rebuilt and fortified it, converting the greater part
of it into a citadel, and erecting here a noble temple.--
“The situation,” says Dr. Richardson, “is extremely
heautiful, ; and strong by nature ; more so, I think,
than Jerusalem. It stands on a filie, large, insulated
* Joseph. Antiq. book xv. chap. 9. # Ibid.
# “It is situated upon a long mount, of an oval figure; having
first a fruitful valley, and then a ring of hills Tunning round
about it. This great city is now wholly converted into gardens.”—
MAUND RELL.
258 PALESTINE ; OR,
hill, compassed all around by a broad deep valley; and
when fortified, as it is stated to have been by Herod,
one would have imagined that, in the ancient system
of warfare, nothing but famine could have reduced
such a place. The valley is surrounded by four hills,
one on each side, which are cultivated in terraces up
to the top, sown with grain, and planted with fig and
olive trees, as is also the valley. The hill of Samaria
likewise rises in terraces to a height equal to any of
the adjoining mountains.
“The present village is small and poor, and after
passing the valley, the ascent to it is very steep.
Viewed from the station of our tents, it is extremely
interesting, both from its natural situation, and from
the picturesque remains of a ruined convent, of good
Gothic architecture.
“Having passed the village, towards the middle of
the first terrace, there is a number of columns still
standing. I counted twelve in one row, besides
several that stood apart, the brotherless remains of
other rows. The situation is extremely delightful,
and my guide informed me, that they belonged to the
serai, or palace. On the next terrace there are no
remains of solid building, but heaps of stone and lime
and rubbish mixed with the soil in great profusion.
Ascending to the third or highest terrace, the traces
of former building were not so numerous, but we
enjoyed a delightful view of the surrounding country.
The eye passed over the deep valley that encompasses
the hill of Sebaste, and rested on the mountains
beyond, that retreated as they rose with a gentle
slope, and met the view in every direction, like a
book laid out for perusal on a reading-desk. This
was the seat of the capital of the short-lived and
wicked kingdom of Israel; and on the face of these
THE HOLY LAND. 259
mountains the eye surveys the scene of many bloody
conflicts and many memorable events. Here those
holy men of God, Elijah and Elisha, spoke their tre-
mendous warnings in the ears of their incorrigible
rulers, and wrought their miracles in the sight of all
the people.
“From this lofty eminence we descended to the
south side of the hill, where we saw the remains of
a stately colonnade that stretches along this beautiful
exposure from east to west. Sixty columns are still
standing in one row. The shafts are plain, and frag-
ments of Ionic volutes, that lie scattered about, testify
the order to which they belonged. These are probably
the relics of some of the magnificent structures with
which Herod the Great adorned Samaria. None of
the walls remain.”
Mr. Buckingham mentions a current tradition,
that the avenue of columns formed a part of Herod's
palace. According to his account, there were eighty-
three of these columns erect in 1816, besides others
prostrate; all without capitals. Josephus states, that,
about the middle of the city, Herod built “a sacred
place, of a furlong and a half in circuit, and adorned
it with all sorts of decorations ; and therein erected a
temple, illustrious for both its largeness and beauty.”
It is probable that these columns belonged to it. On
the eastern side of the same summit are the remains,
Mr. Buckingham states, of another building, “ of
which eight large and eight small columns are still
standing, with many others fallen near them. These
also are without capitals, and are of a smaller size and
of an inferior stone to the others.”” “ In the walls
* Maundrell briefly says: “ All the tokens that remain to testify
that there has ever been such a place, are only, on the north side, a
260 PALESTINE ; OR,
of the humble dwellings forming the modern village,
portions of sculptured blocks of stone are perceived,
and even fragments of granite pillars have been
worked into the masonry.” The Gothic convent
referred to by Dr. Richardson, is the ruined cathe-
dral, attributed, like every thing else of the kind in
Palestine, to the Empress Helena. It stands east
and west, and is about 100 feet in length, by 50 in
breadth. “On the south side are high, slender but-
tresses ; and on a piece of building without this, is
a sloping pyramidal mole, constructed of exceedingly
large stones. The northern wall is quite plain ; the
eastern front is semi-circular, with three open and
two closed windows, each contained in arches divided
from each other by three Corinthian columns. The
interior of the eastern front has a pointed arch, and
columns of no known order; though the capitals
approach nearer to the Corinthian than any other.
The eight small arches which go round the tops of
the widows within, are semi-circular, and have each
at their spring the capital of a column, but no shaft
attached to it ; the great arch of the recess is pointed,
and the moulding that passes round it is fantastic in
the extreme. - Among other things seen there, are the
representations of scaly armour, an owl, an eagle, a
human figure, and an angel, all occupying separate
compartments, and all distinct from each other.
“The exterior of the eastern front presents a still
more singular mixture of style, as the pointed and the
round arch are both used in the same range, and the
Drnaments of each are varied. In the lower cornice
large square piacca, encompassed with pillars; and on the east,
some poor remains of a great church, said to have been built by
the Empress Helena, over the place where St. John Baptist was
both imprisoned amid Uehcaded.”
THE HOLY LAND. 26 |
are human heads, perhaps in allusion to the severed
head of the Baptist ; and there are here as fantastic
figures as on the inside, the whole presenting a
strange assemblage of incongruous ornaments in the
most wretched taste.
“ The masonry appears in some parts to have been
exceedingly solid, in others only moderately good,
and in some places weak and paltry; and at the west
end, in a piece of building, apparently added since the
original construction of the church itself, are seen
several blocks of sculptured stone, apparently taken
from the ruins, and worked into the present-masonry
there.
“On the inside of this ruined edifice is a small
mosque, erected over the supposed dungeon in which
St. John was executed ; and an Arab family, who
claim the guardianship of this sanctuary, have pitched
their dwelling on the south-west angle of the great
church, where it has the appearance of a pigeon-house.
On learning that I was a Moslem, we were all ad-
mitted into this mosque, which we entered with be-
coming reverence. They have collected here the
white marble slabs, found amid the ruins of the
church, to form a pavement ; and in one part we
noticed three large pieces, with sculptured circles and
bands on them, which were set up in the wall as
tablets.
“The mosque itself is a small oblong room, with
steps ascending to an oratory, and its only furniture
is a few simple lamps and some clean straw mats for
prayer, the recess of the Caaba being in the southern
wall. From the mosque, we descended by a narrow
flight of steps to the subterranean chamber or dun-
geon of St. John, which had all the appearance of
having been an ancient sepulchre. It was not more
Q 2
262 PALESTINE ; OR,
than ten feet square; and had niches, as if for the re-
ception of corpses, in arched recesses on each side.
There was here, too, one of those remarkable stone
doors, which seem to have been exclusively appropriated
to tombs, resembling exactly in form and size those
described in the Roman sepulchres at Oom Kais. The
panneling, the lower pivot, and the sill in the ledge
for receiving the bolt, were all still perfect; but the
door was now unhung, and lay on its side against
the wall.”
In the court at the west end of the church are
“two apertures leading down to a large subterranean
reservoir for water, well stuccoed on the inside, and
during the rains often filled to the brim.”
The modern Sebaste is governed by its own shiekh,
who is himself a husbandman : the natives pronounce
the name of the place Subusta.
The route taken by Dr. Richardson now passes over
the mountain to the east of Sebaste, and then descends
to a ruined building called by the natives Beit Emi-
reen (the house of the two princes), near a village
of the same name, by a stream of water. “Leaving
this valley,” he continues, “we crossed the mountain
to the left, and after travelling about an hour along
a very rough and stony ravine, we came to the village
of Gibba, which is surrounded with olive and pome-
granate trees, the latter of which were in full blow,
and occupies a lofty station to overlook a small vaſſey.
From Gibba, we proceeded along the valley to San-
nour, which is a fort erected on an insulated moun-
tain that springs up in the middle of the valley. It is
commonly called Khallah Giurali, or Fort Jurali, from
Giurali, (Jerar 2) the name of the chief who commands
the country. A few miles further on, we came to
Abata, a pleasant village on our right, and similarly
THE HOLY LAND. 263
situated to Gibba, among olive and pomegranate trees.
The inhabitants are said to be particularly hospitable
and kind to strangers. We did not stop to put their
hospitality to the test, but continued our route along
the narrow dell, and having crossed another moun-
tain on the left, opened the beautiful vale of Esdraélon.
and the town of Jenin, pleasantly situated at the foot
of the mountain. We descended to a level piece of
stony ground which bore a tolerably good crop of
thistles, and pitched our tents on the outside of the
town, having travelled this day about eight hours and
a half.”
Sannour, or Sanhoor, called by Dr. Clarke San-
torri, deserves a more particular notice. He makes
it three hours, or nine miles, from Jenin. The castle,
which he describes as very much resembling the Cld
castellated buildings in England, is very strong : it
held out against Djezzar Pasha, when he held the
pashalic of Damascus, for two months, and he was
compelled at last to raise the siege. In the time of
the Crusades it must have been impregnable. “ Yet,”
says Dr. Clarke, “there is no account of it in any
author ; and certainly it is not of later construction
than the period of the holy wars.” If the learned
traveller has given the present name correctly, it
would seem, both from the meaning and the language
of the word, holy tower, to date from the Crusades.
But, doubtless, the site is noticed by the older writers,
under its original name. Their supposed silence,
however, tempted Dr. Clarke to hazard the strange
conjecture that it might be the site of Samaria; for,
in his gallop through the Holy Land, he forgot to
visit, or overlooked Sebaste . The hill commands the
view to the northward of a fine broad valley, bounded
by other hills on every side, about two miles in breadth
264 PALESTINE : OR,
sº.
and five in length : the valley southward is narrower,
and both are cultivated. The ascent is steep on all
sides. The walls of the town are strongly built, “ap-
parently,” says Mr. Buckingham, “ of old Saracenic
work,” and in circuit less than half a mile, with two
gates in opposite quarters. The houses are well built,
but the streets are narrow ; the inhabitants all Ma-
hommedans. The governor (then Hadje Ahmed
Jerar) is tributary to Damascus, but absolute within
his own territory, which includes several towns and
villages, with extensive lands around them, of which
he is as it were the feudal lord. Hadje Ahmed is
described as of a most amiable and patriarchal cha-
racter ; and the aspect of the country bore the most
pleasing marks of the benign influence of his mild and
paternal government.
Jennin, or Genin, (pronounced Djenneen,) the an-
cient Ginaia, or Ginaea, and supposed to be the Geman
of Josephus, was the frontier town of Samaria on the
border of Galilee ; being situated at the entrance of
the great plain. It is mentioned by Josephus as the
scene of a battle between the Galileans, who were
going up to Jerusalem to the feast of tabernacles, and
the natives.” It is now a mere village, containing
about 800 inhabitants ; but there are evidences of its
having once been of much greater extent. There are
the remains of a Christian convent on the outside of
the walls, now partly occupied by a Turkish cemetery.
Within the town, Dr. Clarke observed the ruins of a
palace and a mosque, with marble pillars, fountains,
and even piazzas, some in a very perfect state. An
Arabic inscription over one of these buildings, purports
* Joseph. Wars, book ii. chap. 12, See also Antiq. book xx.
caap. 6.
THE HOLY LAND. 26.5
that it was erected by an individual of the name of
Selim. As a fence to the gardens, Dr. Clarke noticed
the cactus ficus Indicus, growing to so enormous a
size, that the stem was larger than a man's body ; and
its gaudy blossoms made a most splendid show in the
midst of its bristly spines.
The route from Jennin to Nazareth lies directly
across the plain of Esdraelon, a distance of seven
hours, or twenty-one miles. Nearly in the middle
of the plain is the line of separation between the
pashalics of Acre and of Damascus. The road to
Tiberias, which we are now to follow, proceeds east-
ward along this beautiful vale; watered, in this part,
by a fertilizing stream, which, says Dr. Richardson,
“ we crossed and re-crossed several times in our
march. In four hours after leaving Jennin, we came
to the source, where it issues in a large current from
the rock, and is called El Geleed, or the cold. In two
hours more we came to Bisan. The delightful vale
of Esdraelon is but thinly inhabited, and not half
cultivated or stocked with cattle. We did not pass
a single village, and saw but few Bedoween encamp-
ments till we came near to Bisan. As we approached
this miserable village, we gradually withdrew from
the vale, and got upon an elevated rocky flat, covered
with a thin and meagre sprinkling of earth ; the vege-
tation which it bore was scanty, and quite brown
from the lack of moisture. The valley of the Jordan
began to open on our view, and, before we came up to
the village, we passed the remains of a Roman fortress
and a Roman theatre, with many vaults * and columns,
on the left of our route. The village itself is a col-
lection of the most miserable hovels, containing about
* Supposed to be the ruins of subſcrpancan granaries.
266 PALESTINE ; OR,
200 inhabitants; and, on looking at their wretched
accommodation, and comparing it with a Bedoween
encampment that was spread out at a little distance
in the valley, we were not surprised to hear that,
in these countries, the dwellers in tents look on the
dwellers in towns as an inferior class of beings.”
The young emir, or chief of the Arabs of Bisan,
who waited on Lord Belmore, arrayed in his black
abba and yellow boots, is described as a mild-tempered,
intelligent youth ; but the rest of the inhabitants had
the most ruffian-like and depraved appearance.
Bisan, the Bethsan or Bethshan of Scripture, * is
the Scythopolis of the Greek and Roman writers. It
was the largest city of the Decapolis, and the only
one on that side of the Jordan. The theatre is quite
distinct, and measures about 180 feet in length ; it is
completely filled with weeds. In one of the most con-
cealed vomitories, Captain Mangles states, that they
found twenty-four human skulls, with other bones.
A viper was basking in one of the skulls, with his
body twisted between the eyes, –“ a good subject for
a moralizer.” In some of the tombs which lie to the
N.E. of the acropolis, without the walls, there re-
mained sarcophagi ; and, in a few instances, the doors
were still hanging on their ancient hinges of stone ;
they observed also niches of a triangular shape for
lamps. Two streams run through the ruins of the
city, almost insulating the acropolis : over the one to
the S.W. is a fine Roman bridge, beyond which may
be seen the paved way which led to the ancient
Ptolemais (Acre). These streams afterwards unite,
* Josh. xvii. 11; 1 Sam. xxxi. 12; 1 Kings iv. 12. It was one
of the towns which Manassch had in Issachar. To the wall of
Bethsan the Philistines fastencil the bodies of Saul and his three
sons, after they had fallen in Mount Gilboa.
"THE HOLY LANI). 267
and are crossed by another bridge, having one high
arch in the centre, and two smaller ones, which have
been walled up ; along the outer edge of this bridge,
the wall of the city was continued ; and on the hill,
near the arch, the ruins of one of the gates of the city
are distinguishable ; there are some prostrate columns
of the Corinthian order. The acropolis is a high
circular hill, on the top of which are the traces of the
ancient walls of the fortress.” Dr. Richardson noticed
masses of ejected lava scattered round the village ; and
the mountains, he says, have the appearance of extinct
volcanoes.
Pursuing the route to Tiberias, up the delightful
plain of the Jordan, the traveller has on his left
Mount Gilboa, which comes close to Bisan, and bounds
the plain on the west. The natives still call it Djebel
Gilbo. It is a lengthened ridge, rising up in peaks,
about 800 feet above the level of the road, and pro-
bably 1000 feet above the level of the Jordan. On
the east, the plain is bounded by a high mountain
range, which forms part of Mount Gilead, so that the
view on both sides is extremely interesting ; and at
the time of Dr. Richardson's journey (May), rich crops
of barley, apparently over-ripe, added to the beauty of
the landscape. After riding for nearly three hours.
the route led them to the banks of the Jordan, where
it is crossed by a large stone bridge, consisting of one
large and two smaller arches. Here a large khan has
been built for the accommodation of travellers who
take the road to Damascus through the Decapolis and
Mount Gilead. The river at this point is of a con.
siderable depth, and between thirty and forty feel
wide ; the channel very stony, and the waters of a
* Irby and Mangles, pp. 302, 303.
268 PALESTINE ; OR,
“white sulphureous colour,” but free from any un-
pleasant smell or taste. Near Bisan, its width is one
hundred and forty feet, and the current is mugh more
rapid. Beyond the bridge, the plain of the Jordan
narrows into a valley, and the river remains in sight
till the traveller arrives at the shores of the Lake of
Tiberias: a distance of about eight hours, or twenty-
four miles from Bisan.*
Tiberias, still called by the natives Tabaria, or
Tabbareeah, was anciently one of the principal towns
of Galilee. It was built by Herod the Tetrarch, and
named by him in honour of Tiberias the Roman
emperor, with whom he was a great favourite. Very
considerable privileges were granted to those who
chose to settle there, in order to overcome the pre-
judice arising from the city's having been built on
a site full of ancient sepulchres ; from which circum-
stance we may infer the existence of a former city
* The river Jordan, on issuing from the Sea of Galilee, flows
for about three hours near the western hills: it then turns to-
wards the eastern, on which side it continues its course for several
hours, till, at Korn-el-Heman', it returns to the western side.
Burckhardt gives the following list of the torrents or rivulets
which descend from the mountains on either side, leaving in
summer numerous pools of stagnant water. From the western
mountains, boginning at the southern extremity of the Lake of
Tiberias, Wady Fedjaz, Ain-el-Szammera, Wady Djaloud, Wady-
el-Byre, and Wady-el-Oeshe ; all to the north of Bisan. Below
it, Wady-el-Maleh, Wady Medjedda (with a ruined town so called),
Wady-el-Beydham (coming from the neighbourhood of Nablous),
and Wady-el-Farah. From the eastern mountains, Sheriat-el-
Mandhour, Wady-el-Arab, Wady-el-Koszeir, Wady-el-Taybe, and
Wady-el-Seklab (near the village Erbaym); all to the north of the
ford near Bisan. Beyond it, Wady Mous, Wady Yabes, Wady
Amata, aad Wady Zerka, which divide the district of Moerad
from El Belka.
# Joseph, Antiq. lib. xviii, cap. 3; De Bell, lib. ii, cap. 8.
THE HOLY LAND. 269
in the vicinity: this is supposed to have been the
ancient Cinneroth or Kinnereth. Here, during a
visit paid to the city by Herod Agrippa, the kings of
Comagene, of Emessa, of the Lesser Armenia, of
Pontus, and of Chalcis, met to do him honour, and
were magnificently entertained.* After the downfall
of Jerusalem, it continued to be, until the fifth century,
the residence of Jewish rabbies and learned men ; and
was the seat of a patriarch, who acted as the Supreme
judge between persons of his own nation. The office
was hereditary, and was supported with some lustre,
under the Emperor Hadrian, in the person of Selim
III. ; but, in the year 429, it was suppressed, after
subsisting 350 years, under nine or ten patriarchs.
In the sixth century, according to Procopius, Justi-
nian rebuilt the walls. In the seventh, A.D. 640,
during the reign of the Emperor Heraclius, the city
was taken by the Saracens under Caliph Omar.4.
Yet, in the eighth, it is mentioned in an Itinerary
cited by Reland, as still containing many churches
and Jewish synagogues. Pococke, without citing his
authority, says, that the Jewish rabbins lived here till
the eleventh century, but that the Jews had left the
place above eight hundred years. It seenis doubtful,
however, whether it has ever been wholly deserted
by them. Tiberias was an ancient seat of Jewish
literature. A university was founded here by the
patriarch, after the fall of Jerusalem ; and it is re.
markable, that there is a college of Jews in Tabaria at
the present time : it would be very interesting to
ascertain the date of its establishment. Dr. Richard-
son found six rabbies engaged in studying Hebrew
* Joseph. Antiq. lib, xix. cap. 7.
* Basmage's History of the Jews, cited by Van Egmont, vol. ii.
p. 30. Clarke's Travels, vol. iv. p. 222,
270 PALESTINE ; OR,
folios. “They occupied two large rooms, which were
surrounded with books, and said they spent their
time entirely in studying the Scriptures and com-
mentaries thereon. I regretted much,” adds Dr. R.,
“ that I had not been apprised of this institution at
an earlier part of the day. Not having an interpreter
with me, I could not turn my short interview to the
same advantage that I should otherwise have done.”
The modern town of Tabaria is situated close to
the edge of the lake. It has tolerably high but ill-
built walls on three of its sides, flanked with circular
towers; on the fourth, it is open to the water. Its
figure is nearly quadrangular; * according to Pococke,
it is about a quarter of a mile in length, and half that
in breadth ; in circumference, therefore, about three
quarters of a mile. Like all Turkish citadels, it has
an imposing appearance from without ; and its fortifi-
cations and circular towers give it more the aspect of
a Moorish city than most of the towns in Palestine.
But it exhibits the utmost wretchedness within the
walls, one-fourth of the space being wholly unoc-
cupied, and the few houses or huts which it contains
are not built contiguously. The sheikh's house is
described by Van Egmont as tolerably good, and
indeed the only building. that deserves the name:
and even this owes its beauty to the ruins out of
which it is built. Adjoining to it is a large hand-
some structure, which serves as a stable. Near the
sheikh's house are the ruins of a very large castle,
with some remains of towers, moats, and other works,
* Mr. Buckingham says, “ in the form of an irregular crescent.”
“The southern wall approaches close to the beach; but the north-
westerm angle of the northern wall, being seated on a rising ground,
recedes some little distance from the water, and gives an irregular
form to the enclosure.”
THE HOLY LAND. 271
which probably commanded the harbour. One of
these works, facing the lake, has been turned into a
mosque. On the rising ground to the northward of
the ruin, stands the modern castle, which dates only a
few years before the period of Pococke's visit. Has-
selquist informs us, that it owes its erection to Sheikh
Daker, a native of Tiberias, and at that time inde-
pendent lord of the place, which he had recently
defended against the Pasha of Seide. “He had no
more than six small iron cannon in this work of
defence ; but he used another method, still more an-
cient than cannons, for defending forts. He ordered
loose stones to be laid on the top of the wall, four feet
high, which, in case of a siege, might be rolled down,
and crush the besiegers.” The marks of the siege
were then to be seen on the walls. Pococke, who
preceded Hasselquist about thirteen years, was at
Tiberias when the fort was building, and they were
strengthening the old walls with buttresses on the
inside, the sheikh then having a dispute with the
Pasha of Damascus. “ They have often,” he adds,
“ had disputes with the pashas of Damascus, who
have come and planted their cannon against the city,
and sometimes have beaten down part of the walls,
but were never able to take it.” The town has only
two gates; one near the sheikh's house, facing the
sea; the other, which was very large, is partly walled
up, the city on that side being uninhabited.* The
houses are described by Van Egmont as “very mean
* “ There are two gates visible from without, one near the
southern, and the other in the western wall; the latter, which
is in one of the round towers, is the only one now open: there
are appearances also of the town having been surrounded with a
ditch, but this is now filled up with cultivable soil.” — Buck-
INGHAM,
272 PALESTINE ; OR,
and low cottages, some of stone, and others of dried
mud, and can hardly be said to be above the ground.
On the terraces, which even the huts in this country
are not without, they build tents of rushes.” Mr.
Buckingham states, that there are two synagogues
near the centre of the town, both of them inferior
to that of Jerusalem, though similar in design; and,
on the rising ground near the northern quarter, a
small, but good bazar, and two or three coffee-sheds.
The only interesting relic of antiquity in the town,
is the church dedicated to St. Peter; an oblong square
edifice, arched over, said to be on the spot where
the house of St. Peter was, though St. Peter lived at
Capernaum.” It stands at the north-east corner of
the town, close to the water's edge, and is described
by Mr. Buckingham as a vaulted room, about thirty
feet by fifteen, and perhaps fifteeen feet in height:
over the door is one small window, and on each side
four others, all arched and open. Van Egmont says,
* In justice to the original inventor of the legend, it should be
mentioned, that this is a modern blunder of the monks. Boni.
facius states, that the building erected by Helena marked the spot
where our Lord appeared to Peter, after his resurrection; as re-
corded John xxi. 1.
# This seems to be the ancient church described by Dr. Clarke
to which, he says, “we descended by steps, as into the church
of St. Sophia at Constantinople, and some other early Christian
sanctuaries, where the entrance resembles that of a cellar, daylight
being rarely admitted. There is reason to believe,” he adds,
“ that this was the first place of Christian worship erected in
Tiberias, and that it was constructed as early as the fourth cen-
tury. The roof is of stone, and it is vaulted. We could discover
no inscription, nor any other clue to its origin. . . . . Its arched
stone roof, yet existing entire, renders it worthy of more particular
attention.” – Vol. iv. p. 215. Captain Mangles controverts the
opinion of its remote antiquity; stating, that after they had been
there a few days, they closerved on one of the stones of the building,
part of an inverted Arabic inscription. -
THE HOLY LAND. 273
that it is used at present as a stable ; and they accord-
ingly put up their horses there. The ancient town
extended about half a mile further to the South than
the present walls, as is indicated by a great number
of confused ruins; and Pococke observed, that the
suburbs extended still further in the same direction.
Near the present town, he says, there are ruins of
another church ; and further on, some signs of a
large square building, about which lie several pillars,
which might be the house of the government. Captain
Mangles states, that “at the northern extremity of
the ruins are the remains of the ancient town, which
are discernible by means of the walls and other ruined
buildings, as well as by fragments of columns, some
of which are of beautiful red granite.” This agrees
with Van Egmont’s representation, that the old city
began at some distance to the north of the present
town, extending along the side of the lake beyond the
Baths of Emmaus, which are about a mile from the
modern town, to the south of it. “ In our way
thither,” says the last-mentioned traveller, “ we
plainly saw the foundations of the old city, and the
remains of bulwarks erected on frustums of pillars.
In short, the whole road to the bath, and even
some distance beyond it, was full of ruins of walls ;
and near it we saw the ruins of a gate.” These walls
were continued to the mountains which confined the
city towards the west, so that its breadth could not
exceed half a mile. The wall beyond the baths, which
runs from the lake to the mountain's side, is, however,
supposed by Mr. Bankes to be rather the fortification
of Vespasian's camp. Pococke places the baths a
Quarter of a mile south of the walls of old Tiberias.
The ancient name of Emmaus, which signifies baths,
is still preserved in the Arabic Hamam, by which the
274 PALESTINE ; OR,
place is now called. The waters are much resorted to,
being esteemed good for all sorts of pains and tumours,
and even for the gout. Dr. Richardson found the
Pasha of Acre encamped here, with a numerous
retinue ; having been advised to use the baths, by
his medical attendant, who was a Frank. At a little
distance from him, Lady Hester Stanhope had taken
up her residence in a mosque. “ Not having any
thermometer,” says Dr. R., “I could not ascertain
the temperature of the spring ; but it is so hot, that
the hand could not endure it; and the water must
remain twelve hours in the bath, before it can be
used ; and then I should consider it as above 100°.
It contains a strong solution of common salt, with a
considerable intermixture of iron and sulphur.” Po-
cocke, who brought away a bottle of the waters, says,
that they were found to hold a considerable quantity
of “gross fixed vitriol, some alum, and a mineral salt.”
He observed a red sediment upon the stones. Van
Egmont and Heyman state, that they resemble in
quality those of Aix la Chapelle. “Our curiosity,”
they say, “led us to go into the bath, the water of
which was so hot as not easily to be endured; but,
to render it more temperate, we ordered the passage
through which it runs into the basin, to be stopped.
The inhabitants of Tiberias have built here a small
house with a cupola ; but there seems to have been
formerly a much more splendid edifice, as the baths
were very famous. The water rises something higher,
whence it is conducted into a stone basin. This water
is so salt as to communicate a brackish taste to that of
the lake near it.” Hasselquist has given a still more
minute account, which Dr. Clarke has evidently over.
looked in referring to him. “ The fountain or
source,” he says, “is at the foot of a mountain, at the
THE EIOLY L.A.N.D. 275
distance of a pistol-shot from the Lake Gennesareth,
and a quarter of a league from the coasts of Tiberias.
The mountain consists of a black and brittle sulphu-
reous stone, which is only to be found in large masses
in the neighbourhood of Tiberias, but in loose stones
also on the coast of the Dead Sea, as well as here.
They cut millstones out of it in this place, which are
sent by water from Acre to Egypt. I saw an incre-
dible quantity of them at Damietta. The spring
which comes from the mountain is in diameter equal
to that of a man’s arm, and there is one only. The
water is so hot, that the hand may be put into it
without scalding, but it cannot be kept there long :
consequently, it is not boiling hot, but the next degree
to it. It has a strong sulphureous smell. It tastes
bitter, and something like common salt. The sedi-
ment deposited by it is black, as thick as paste, smells
strongly of sulphur, and is covered with two skins,
or cuticles, of which that beneath is of a fine dark-
green colour, and the uppermost of a light rusty
colour. At the mouth of the outlet, where the water
formed little cascades over the stones, the first-men-
tioned cuticle alone was found, and so much resembled
a conferva, that one might easily have taken this,
that belongs to the mineral kingdom, for a vegetable
production ; but, nearer the river, where the water
stood still, one might see both skins, the yellow upper-
most, and under it the green.” At that time (1750),
the waters appear to have been neglected, and the
“miserable bathing house” was not kept in repair.”
lt seems at first difficult to account for the state-
ment given by this usually correct writer, that there
is but one spring, when Captain Mangles states that
* Voyages and Travels, p. 283.
276 PALESTINE ; OR,
there are three ; but Mr. Buckingham's minute and
lively description explains the apparent discrepancy.
“Leaving the town at the western gate, we pur-
sued our course southerly along its wall, and came to
some scattered ruins of the old city of Tiberias; among
which we observed many foundations of buildings, some
fragments of others still standing, and both grey and
red granite columns, some portions of the latter being
at least four feet in diameter ; but among the whole,
we saw neither ornamented capitals nor sculptured
stones of any kind, though the city is known to have
been a considerable one.
“In our way, we passed an old tree standing amid
these ruins, and observed its branches to be hung with.
rags of every hue and colour, no doubt the offerings of
those who either expected or had received benefit
from the springs in the road to which it lay. Through-
out the cliffs of the overhanging mountain on the
west, are rude grottoes at different heights; and oppo-
site to the tree are two arched caves, one of them
having a square door of entrance beneath the arch,
and both of them being apparently executed with
care. We had not time to examine them, though we
conceived them to have been most probably ancient
sepulchres.
“ In less than an hour after our leaving the town,
we arrived at the baths. The present building, erected
over the springs here, is small and mean, and is alto-
gether the work of Mahommedans. It is within a
few yards of the edge of the lake, and contains a bath
for males and a bath for females, each with their sepa-
rate apartment annexed. Over the door of the former
is an Arabic inscription ; ascending to this door by
a few steps, it leads to an outer room, with an open
window, a hearth for preparing coffee, and a small
THE HOLY LAND. 277
closet for the use of the attendant. Within this is
the bath itself, a square room of about eighteen or
twenty feet, covered with a low dome, and having
benches in recesses on each side. The cistern for
containing the hot water is in the centre of this room,
and is sunk below the pavement; it is a square of
eight or nine feet only, and the spring rises to supply
it through a small head of some animal ; but this is so
badly executed, that it is difficult to decide for what it
was intended. My thermometer rose here instantly to
130°, which was its utmost limit ; but the heat of the
water was certainly greater. It was painful to the
hand as it issued from the spout, and could only be
borne gradually by those who bathed in the cistern.
“There is here only an old man and a little boy tº
hold the horses, and make coffee for the visitors; and
those who bathe, strip in the inner room, and wash
themselves in the cistern, without being furnished
with cloths, carpets, cushions, or any of the usual
comforts of a Turkish bath. The whole establish-
ment, indeed, is of the poorest kind, and the sight of
the interior is rather disgusting than inviting.
“At this bath we met with a soldier whom they
called Mahommed Mamlouk, and I learnt that he
was a German by birth, having become a Mamlouk
and Mahommedan when a boy. He was now the
hasnadar or treasurer to the Agha of Tabareeah, and
was so completely a Turk as to profess, that he would
not willingly return to his native country, even if he
could do so under the most favourable circumstances.
He spoke the Turkish and Arabic languages equally
well; and it was in the latter that we conversed, as
he had entirely forgotten his native tongue, though
not more than thirty-five years of age.
PART II. R
278 PALESTINE ; OR,
“Besides the spring which supplies the present
baths, there are several others near it, all rising close
to the edge of the lake, and all equally hot, finely
transparent, and slightly sulphureous, resembling ex-
actly the spring at El-Hame. There are also extensive
ruins around, which are most probably the remains of
Roman edifices; though that which has been taken for
the remains of a theatre, appears rather to have been
the choir of an early Christian church. Among them
all, there is nothing, however, either interesting or
definite. We quitted this spot to return to the town,
and in our way by the bath, saw a party of Jewish
women just coming out from the female apartment.
Their conversation was in German ; and, on inquiry,
they said that they had come from Vienna with their
husbands, to end their days in the land of their fathers.
In our way back from hence, we were met by a party
of Moslems, who conceiving me, from my dress and
white turban, to be of their faith, gave us the usual
salute, which I returned without scruple ; but our
guide was so shocked at the interchange of forbidden
salutations between a Christian and a Mohammedan,
that he expressed his confidence in its ending in some
unlucky accident to us. To avert this, however, from
his own head, he took a large stone from the road,
and after spitting on it, turned that part towards the
north, repeating a short Arabic prayer at the same
time. Besides the present incident, I had observed on
several other occasions, that, in this country, set forms
of expressions are regarded as appropriate to men of
different faiths, and even different ranks in life; and
that therefore nothing is more necessary for a tra-
veller, than to acquaint himself with those minute
shades of difference; as they serve, like the watch-
THE HOLY LAND. 279
word of an army, to distinguish friends from foes; and
any errors therein might produce the most alarming
consequences.
“On our way we met a Jewish funeral, attended
by a party of about fifty persons, all male. A groupe
of half a dozen walked before, but without any appa-
rent regard to order, and all seemed engaged in hum-
ming indistinctly hymns, or prayers, or lamentations ;
for they might have been either, as fal as we could
distinguish by the tone and the manner of their
utterance. The corpse followed, wrapped in linen,
without a coffin, and slung on cords between two poles
borne on men’s shoulders, with its feet foremost. A
funeral service was said over it at the grave, and it
was sunk into its mother earth in peace.”
This traveller notices some ancient baths, to the
north of Tiberias also, which appear to have escaped
the observation of preceding travellers. About an
hour from Tiberias, pursuing a northward course
along the border of the lake, he came to the remains
of three, close to the water’s edge, which he describes
as so many large circular cisterns, quite open, and not
appearing to have ever been inclosed in a covered
building. “They were all,” he continues, “nearly
of the same size ; the one around the edge of which I
walked, being eighty paces in circumference, and from
twelve to fifteen feet deep. Each of these was distant
from the other about one hundred yards, ranging
along the beach of the lake, and each was supplied by
a separate spring, rising also near the sea. The
water was in all of them beautifully transparent, of a
slightly sulphureous taste, and of a light-green colour,
as at the bath near Oom Kais; but the heat of the
stream here was scarcely greater than that of the
atmosphere, as the thermometer in the air stood at
280 PALESTINE ; OR,
84°, and when immersed in water, rose to 86°. The
first of these circular cisterns had a stone bench or
pathway running round its interior, for the accommo-
dation of the bathers, and the last had a similar work
on the outside; in the latter, a number of small black
fish were seen swimming. Each of the baths were
supplied by a small aqueduct from its separate spring ;
and there were appearances of a semi-circular wall
having inclosed them all within one area.
Mr. Jolliffe reports the estimated number of inha-
bitants to be 4000, two-thirds of which are Jews.
Burckhardt’s account agrees with this as to numbers ;
but he makes the proportion of Jews only one-fourth.*
There are, he says, from one hundred and sixty to
two hundred Jewish families, of which forty or fifty
are of Polish origin; the rest are Jews from Spain,
Barbary, and different parts of Syria. The quarter
which they occupy in the middle of the town, had
lately been much enlarged by the purchase of several
streets, so that their numbers appear to be on the
increase. Tiberias holds out to the Jews peculiar
advantages. They enjoy here perfect religious free-
dom; besides which, Tiberias is one of the four holy
cities of the Talmud, the other three being Saphet,
Jerusalem, and Hebron. “It is esteemed holy ground,”
Burckhardt states, “ because Jacob is supposed to
have resided here, h and because it is situated on the
Lake of Gennesareth ; from which, according to the
* Mr. Buckingham says, that, according to the opinion of the
best-informed residents, the population does not exceed 2000 souls,
of whom about half are Jews. *
~ + Perhaps not the patriarch, but some great rabbin of that
name. Burckhardt speaks of a great rabbin, who, he was in-
formed, lies buried at Tiberias, with 14,000 of his scholars round
him
THE HOLY LAN ID. 281
most generally received opinion of the Talmud, the
Messiah is to rise. It is a received dogma, that the
world will return to its primitive chaos, if prayers are
not addressed to the God of Israel, at least twice a
week in the four holy cities. On this account, Jewish
devotees from all parts flock to these cities; and three
or four missionaries are sent abroad every year, to
collect alms for the support of these religious fraterni-
ties, who do not fail successfully to plead this immi-
nent danger as an argument for liberal contributions.
One missionary is sent to the coasts of Africa from
Damietta to Mogadore ; another to the coasts of
Europe from Venice to Gibraltar ; a third to the
Archipelago, Constantinople, and Anatolia ; and a
fourth through Syria. The charity of the Jews of
London is appealed to from time to time; but the
Jews of Gibraltar have the reputation of being more
liberal than any others, and are stated to contribute
from 4 to 5000 Spanish dollars annually. The Polish
Jews settled at Tabaria, are supported almost entirely
by their rich countrymen in Bohemia and Poland ;
and the Syrian Jews are said to be very jealous of
them. When a fresh pilgrim arrives, bringing a
little money with him, the exorbitant demands which
are made on him by his brethren, either for rent, or
on some other pretence, soon deprive him of it, and
leave him a pensioner on his nation. The missionaries
generally realize some property, as they are allowed
ten per cent. upon the alms they collect. But many
of the Jews, who have been led to beg their way
to Palestine by their delusive representations, are ill
satisfied with the Land of Promise ; and some few are
fortunate enough to find their way home again. The
greater number, however, console themselves with the
R 2
282 PALESTINE ; OR,
inestimable advantage of laying their bones in the
Holy Land.
The Jewish devotees pass the whole day in the
schools or the synagogue, reciting the Old Testament
and the Talmud, both of which many of them know
entirely by heart. They all write Hebrew; but their
learning, Burckhardt says, seems to be on a level with
that of the Turks. He mentions some beautiful copies
of the Pentateuch, written on a roll of leather, which
he saw in the Syrian synagogue: no one could inform
him of their age or history. The libraries of the two
schools are moderately stocked with Hebrew books,
printed chiefly at Vienna and Venice. They observe
here, he says, a singular custom in the public service.
“While the rabbin recites the psalms of David, or the
prayers extracted from them, the congregation fre-
quently imitate, by their voice or gesture, the meaning
of some remarkable passages: for example, when the
rabbin pronounces the words, “Praise the Lord with
the sound of the trumpet,” they imitate the sound of
the trumpet through their closed fists. When ‘ a
horrible tempest’ occurs, they puff and blow to repre-
sent a storm ; or should he mention the cries of the
righteous in distress, they all set up a loud scream-
ing.” And sometimes, we are told, these imitative
accompaniments are carried on in a singular sort of
fugue or concert ; while some are blowing the storm,
others having already begun the cries of the righ-
teous !
The Jews marry at a very early age. It is not
uncommon, Burckhardt affirms, to see fathers of
thirteen years of age, and mothers of eleven. On the
occasion of a wedding, they traverse the town in
pompous procession, carrying before the bride the plate
THE HOLY I, ANI). 283
of almost the whole community; and they feast in
the house of the bridegroom for seven successive days
and nights. “ The wedding-feast of a man who has
about 50l. a-year, (and no Jew can live with his
family on less,) will often cost more than 60l.” Yet,
few of them are rich, or carry on any merchandize.
When Burckhardt was at Tiberias, there were only
two Jew merchants resident there, who were men of
property; and they were styled by the devotees, kafers,
or unbelievers. The Rabbin of Tiberias is under the
great Rabbin of Szaffad (Saphet), who pronounces
final judgement on all contested points of law and
religion.
The Christian community consists only of a few
families,—Mr. Buckingham says, about twenty, of the
Catholic communion.* They enjoy great liberty, and
are on a footing of equality with the Turks. The
difference of treatment which the Christians expe-
rience from the Turks, in different parts of Syria, is
very remarkable. It depends very much on the
character of the local government. At the time of
Burckhardt's visit, Tabaria, which, with its district of
ten or twelve villages, forms part of the pashalik of
Acre, was under the mild and tolerant government of
Soleiman Pasha, the successor of Djezzar. “ At
Szaffad,” says that enterprising traveller, “where is
a small Christian community, the Turks are extremely
intolerant : at Tiberias, on the contrary, I have seen
Christians beating Turks in the public bazar.” A
bazar had been lately built, in which he counted a
dozen retail shops. “ The traffic of the inhabitants is
principally with the Bedouins of the Ghor and of the
* Yet Dr. Clarke says, they are numerous, and that he was on-
vinced of this by the multitude he saw coming from the morning
service of the church.
284 PA I, ES I'INE : OR,
district of Szaffad. The shopkeepers repair every
Monday to the khan at the foot of Mount Tabor
where a market called Souk-el-Khan is held, and
where the merchandize of the town is bartered, chiefly
for cattle. The greater part of the inhabitants culti-
vate the soil, which produces wheat, barley, dhourra,
tobacco, melons, grapes, and a few vegetables. About
350 lbs. of melons sell for about eight shillings. The
heat of the climate would enable them to grow almost
any tropical plant.” There is, however, “little art at
Tiberias, and less industry.” “I had broken,” says
Dr. Richardson, “ the mouth-piece of my pipe at
Bisan, and could not find in all Tiberias a person who
could make a tube for it ; yet every person here, both
men and women, smoke. There are many Turks,
and a still greater number of Jews, in Tiberias. A
respectable-looking, rich Jew passes himself off as
European consul ; though by whom constituted, or
for what purpose, I cannot say. However, he thought
proper to pay his respects to the Pasha, dressed in the
European costume; he wore a scarlet coat and cocked
hat, tight small-clothes, silk stockings, shoes and
buckles ; he rode upon an ass, and carried a cochlico
umbrella above his head. He was a thin, meagre,
old man, between seventy and eighty years of age.
His appearance was highly grotesque and abundantly
amusing to all the spectators.”
It is remarkable, that there are no fishing-boats at
Tiberias. The fish are caught with casting-nets,
thrown from the rocks or from the beach ; a method
which must obviously yield a very small quantity,
compared to what could be obtained by boats. The
consequence is, that fish is sold at the same price per
pound as meat. Pococke went on the lake in a boat
which was kept in order to ſetch wood from the other
THE HOLY LAND. 285
side. But, when Captain Irby and his companions
were at Tiberias, not a single boat of any description
was to be seen on the lake. “The fishery.” Burck-
hardt says, “ is rented at seven hundred piastres per
annum; but the only boat that was employed on it by
the fishermen, fell to pieces last year (1811), and such
is the indolence of these people, that they have not
yet supplied its loss.” The northern part of the lake,
he says, is full of fish, but he did not see one at the
southern extremity. The most common species are
the bênni, or carp, and the mesht, a flat fish about a
foot long and five inches broad. Their flavour is
reported to be excellent, and the commonest sort is
the best. Captain Mangles describes it as a species of
bream, equal to the finest perch. According to Has-
selquist, the same kind is met with here as in the
Nile: he specifies charmuth, silurus, boemmi, mulsil,
and sparus Galilaeus. Some are very large, living
here in quiet security, being never disturbed by boats
or vessels, nets or hooks.
LAKE OF TIBER i AS.
THIS inland sea, or more properly lake, which
derives its several names, the Lake of Tiberias, the
Sea of Galilee, and the Lake of Gennesareth, from the
territory which forms its western and south-western
border, is computed to be between seventeen and
eighteen miles in length, and from five to six in
breadth.* The mountains on the east come close to
* According to Josephus. Dr. Richardson, misled by Sandys,
makes it “about twelve miles long and six broad.” Dr. Clarke
says: “ Of its length we could not form any accurate opinion,
because its southern extremity, winding behind distant moun
tains, was concealed from our view ; but we inclined rather to
286 PAL EST IN 1... ; OR,
its shore, and the country on that side has not a very
agreeable aspect : on the west, it has the plain of
Tiberias, the high ground of the plain of Hutin, or
Hottein, the plain of Gennesareth, and the foot of
those hills by which you ascend to the high moun-
tain of Saphet. To the north and south it has a plain
country, or valley. There is a current throughout
the whole breadth of the lake, even to the shore ;
and the passage of the Jordan through it is discernible
by the smoothness of the surface in that part. Various
travellers have given a very different account of its
general aspect. According to Captain Mangles, the
land about it has no striking features, and the scenery
is altogether devoid of character. “It appeared,”
he says, “ to particular disadvantage to us after those
beautiful lakes we had seen in Switzerland ; but it
becomes a very interesting object, when you consider
the frequent allusions to it in the Gospel narrative.”
Dr. Clarke, on the contrary, speaks of the uncommon
grandeur of this memorable scenery. “The Lake of
Gennesareth,” he says, “ is surrounded by objects
well calculated to heighten the solemn impression ”
made by such recollections, and “affords one of the
most striking prospects in the Holy Land. Speaking
of it comparatively, it may be described as longer and
finer than any of our Cumberland and Westmoreland
lakes, although perhaps inferior to Loch Lomond. It
does not possess the vastness of the Lake of Geneva,
although it much resembles it in detain points of .
view. In picturesque beauty, it comes nearest to the
Lake of Locarno in Italy, although it is destitute of
the statement of Hegesippus, as applied by Reland to the text
of Joséphus: this makes it to equal 140 stadia, or seventeen
miles and a half.” Its breadth he judged to be not less than six
miles,
THE HOLY I, A N D. 287
any thing similar to the islands by which that majestic
piece of water is adorned. It is inferior in magni-
tude, and in the height of its surrounding mountains,
to the Lake Asphaltites.” Mr. Buckingham may
perhaps be considered as having given the most ac-
curate account, and one which reconciles in some
degree the differing statements above cited, when,
speaking of the lake as seen from Tel Hoom, he
says—that its appearance is grand, but that the barren
aspect of the mountains on each side, and the total
absence of wood, give a cast of dulness to the picture ;
this is increased to melancholy by the dead calm of
its waters, and the silence which reigns throughout its
whole extent, where not a boat or vessel of any kind
is to be found.
Among the pebbles on the shore, Dr. Clarke found
pieces of a porous rock resembling toad-stone, its
cavities filled with zeolite. Native gold is said to
have been found here formerly. “We noticed,” he
says, “an appearance of this kind, but, on account
of its trivial nature, neglected to pay proper attention
to it. The water was as clear as the purest crystal,
sweet, cool, and most refreshing. Swimming to a
considerable distance from the shore, we found it so
limpid that we could discern the bottom covered with
shining pebbles. Among these stones was a beauti-
ful, but very diminutive kind of shell, a nondescript
species of Buccinum, which we have called Buccinum
Galilaeum. We amused ourselves by diving for speci-
mens; and the very circumstance of discerning such
small objects beneath the surface, may prove the high
transparency of the water.” The situation of the
lake, lying as it were in a deep basin between the
hills which enclose it on all sides, excepting only the
narrow entrance and outlets of the Jordan at either
288 PALESTINE ; OR,
end, protects its waters from long-continued tempests:
its surface is in general as smooth as that of the Dead
Sea. But the same local features render it occasion-
ally subject to whirlwinds, squalls, and sudden gusts
from the mountains, of short duration : especially,
when the strong current formed by the Jordan is
opposed by a wind of this description from the S.E.,
sweeping from the mountains with the force of a
hurricane, it may easily be conceived that a boisterous
sea must be instantly raised, which the small vessels
of the country would be unable to resist. A storm
of this description is plainly denoted by the language
of the evangelist, in recounting one of our Lord's
miracles. “ There came down a storm of wind on the
lake, and they were filled with water, and were in
jeopardy...... Then he arose, and rebuked the wind
and the raging of the water ; and they ceased, and
there was a calm.””
There were fleets of some force on this lake during
the wars of the Jews with the Romans, and very
bloody battles were fought between them. Josephus
gives a particular account of a naval engagement be-
tween the Romans under Vespasian, and the Jews who
had revolted during the administration of Agrippa.
Titus and Trajan were both present, and Vespasian
himself was on board the Roman fleet. The rebel
force consisted of an immense multitude, who, as
fugitives after the capture of Tarichaea by Titus, had
sought refuge on the water. The vessels in which
the Romans defeated them, were built for the occa-
sion, and yet were larger than the Jewish ships. The
victory was followed by so terrible a slaughter of the
Jews, that nothing was to be seen, either on the lake
* Luke viii. 23, 24.
THE HOLY LAND. 289
or its shores, but the blood and mangled corses of the
slain, and the air was infected by the number of dead
bodies. Six thousand five hundred persons are stated
to have perished in this naval engagement and in the
battle of Tarichaea, besides twelve hundred who were
afterwards massacred in cold blood by order of Ves-
pasian, in the amphitheatre at Tiberias, and a vast
number who were given to Agrippa as slaves.*
Of the numerous towns which formerly flourished
on the shores of this lake, few traces now remain, and
there is some difficulty in determining even the sites
of those whose names have come down to us. About
an hour and a quarter to the northward of Tiberias,
following the course of the lake, is a small Mahom-
medan village called Migdal, f (which signifies in
Hebrew a tower,) where there are considerable re-
mains of a very indifferent castle, that may possibly
have given its name to the place. It is seated near
the edge of the lake, beneath a range of high cliffs,
in which are seen small grottoes or caves. The ruins
consist of an old square tower and some larger build-
ings of rude construction, apparently ancient. It is
generally supposed that this is the Magdala of the
Gospels, and the Migdal of the earlier Scriptures. :
But Pococke objects against this opinion, that Mag-
dala seems to have been in the same direction as
Dalmanutha, which he supposes to have been on the
eastern coast. This, however, is far from certain.
He places it at the S.E. corner of the plain, which,
he says, “must be what Josephus calls the country of
Gennesareth, and which he describes as thirty stadia
long from north to south, and twenty.broad, that is,
* Joseph. Wars, book iii. chap. 17.
Burckhardt writes it El Medjdel.
Matt. xv. 39. Joshua xix. 38.
º
S
290 . PALESTINE ; OR,
from the Vale of Doves (Wady Hymam) to the sea.”
“This plain,” he adds, “is a very fertile spot of
ground. About the middle of the plain, or rather
towards the north side, there is a very fine fountain,
about one hundred feet in diameter, enclosed with a
circular wall six feet high, on which account it is
called the round fountain : it runs off in a stream
through the plain into the lake, and is probably the
fountain mentioned by Josephus, by the name of
Cesaina, as watering this plain. The water seems
to be that which was called the spring of Capernaum,
from which one may suppose that Capernaum was at
the lake where this rivulet falls into it.””
Burckhardt and Captain Mangles describe, half an
* “The country also that lies over against this lake hath the
same name of Gennesareth. Its nature is wonderful, as well as
its beauty: its soil is so fruitful that all sorts of trees can grow
upon it, and the inhabitants accordingly plant all sorts of trees
there; for the temper of the air is so well mixed that it agrees very
well with those several sorts; particularly walnuts, which require
the coldest air, ſlourish there in vast plenty ; there are palm-trees
also, which grow best in hot air; fig-trees also and olives grow
near them, which yet require an air that is more temperate. One
may call this place the ambition of nature, where it forces those
plants that are naturally enemies to one another, to agree to-
gether. It is a happy contention of the seasons, as if every one
of them laid claim to this country; for it not only nourishes
different sorts of autumnal fruit beyond men's expectation, but
preserves them also a great while. It supplies men with the prim-
cipal fruits, with grapes and figs continually, during ten months
of the year, and the rest of the fruits as they become ripe together
through the whole year. For besides the good temperature of the
air, it is also watered from a most fertile fountain. The people of
the country call it Capharmawm. Some have thought it to be a
vein of the Nile, because it produces the coracin fish as well as
that lake does which is near to Alexandria. The length of this
country extends itself along the banks of this lake, that bears the
same name, for thirty furlongs, and is in breadth twenty. And
this is the nature of that place.”— Joseph Us, Wars, book iii.
chap. 10, § 8,
e
THE HOLY LAND. 291
hour to the west of Magdala, on the northern side of
the entrance of a wady or ravine, a curious ancient
fortification to which the natives give the name of the
Castle of the Pigeons (Kalaat Hamam), on account,
Burckhardt says, of the vast quantity of wild pigeons
that breed there. A high perpendicular cliff projects
so as to form a natural barrier on two sides of a
triangle, and the remaining side is defended by a wall
of rough masonry with numerous projecting turrets.
“It is certainly very antique, and Mr. Bankes thinks,
prior to the time of the Romans. It may possibly,”
adds Captain Mangles, “ be the ancient Jotapata.”
This conjecture, however, is not supported by the
description, which hardly agrees with the situation
of Jotapata as given by Josephus.* It is evidently
the same place as Pococke refers to under the name
of the Valley of Doves (or Pigeons). “Two miles
N.E. of Hutin,” he says, “ and north of the plain of
Hutin, is a narrow pass called Waad Hymam (the
Valley of Doves), which is a descent between two
rocky mountains into the plain of Gennesareth, which
is westward of the middle part of the Sea of Tiberias.
These mountains are full of sepulchral grots, which
probably belonged to the towns and villages near.
On the north side of the hill, over the plain of Genne-
sareth, there is a fortress cut into the perpendicular
rock a considerable height, with a great number of
apartments; the ascent to which is very steep. It is
said by some to be the work, at least the improve-
ment, of Feckerdine.” + He goes on to state, as the
* Wars, book iii. chap. 7, § 7.
t With this, Burckhardt’s description accurately agrees. “In
the calcareous mountain are many natural caverns, which have
been united together by passages cut in the rock, and enlarged in
292 PALESTINE ; OR,
reason of his mentioning this pass so particularly, that
south of it, in the plain of Hutin, and about two miles
west of the Sea of Tiberias, are the ruins of a town
or large village, which still bears the name of Bait-
sida, and must have been the ancient Bethsaida of
Galilee. “ There are ruins of a large cistern and
other buildings here, and particularly great remains
of a church, and of a very fine worked door-case to
it, and some columns.” The Bethsaida to which
Philip the Tetrarch gave the name of Julias,” in
honour of Caesar’s daughter, the learned author con-
cludes to have been a different place ; it was situated
in the lower Gaulonitis ; and he contends, that as its
name was changed before our Lord frequented these
parts, it would not have been referred to by the
evangelist under any other appellation. It is certain,
indeed, that the Bethsaida of the evangelists, as well
as Chorazin and Capernaum with which it is asso-
ciated, was in Galilee.t.
order to render them more commodious for habitation. Walls
also have been built across the natural openings, so that no person
could enter them except through the narrow communicating pas-
sages; and wherever the nature of the almost perpendicular cliff
permitted it, small bastions were built to defend the castle, which
has been thus rendered almost impregnable. The perpendicular
cliff forms its protection above, and the access from below is by a
narrow path, so steep as not to allow of a horse mounting it. In the
midst of the caverns several deep cisterns have been hewn.” The
place might, he thinks, shelter about 600 men ; and he supposes it
to be the work of some powerful robber about the time of the
Crusades, as a few vaults of communication, with pointed arches,
denote Gothic architecture.—Travels in Syria, p. 331.
* There was another Julias, in Perea, on the east side of the
lake, the ancient name of which was Betherampta. This was
built by Herod Antipas. See Josephus, Jewish Wars, book ii.
chap. 9.
f John xii. 21. Matt. xi. 24, 23.
*
THE HOLY LAND. 293
With regard to Chorazin, Pococke says that he
could find nothing like the name except at a village
called Gerasi, which is among the hills west of the
place called Telhoue in the plain of Gennesareth. Dr.
Richardson, in passing through this plain, inquired
of the natives whether they knew such a place as
Capernaum ? They immediately rejoined, “ Caverna-
hum wa Chorasi, they are quite near, but in ruins.”
This evidence sufficiently fixes the proximity of
Chorazin to Capernaum, in opposition to the opinion
that it was on the east side of the lake ; and it is
probable that the Gerasi of Pococke is the same place,
the orthography only being varied, as Dr. Richard-
son's Chorasi.
Capernaum was on the sea-coast, on the borders of
Zabulon and Naphthali.” Mr. Buckingham mentions
an Arab station, said to have been formerly called
Capharnaoom, upon the edge of the lake, from nine to
twelve miles N.N.E. of Tiberias, bearing at present
only the name of Talhewn, +- the Telhoue of Po-
cocke, who describes it as lying at the eastern foot
of the hills north of the plain of Gennesareth, and
supposes (but it is evidently an erroneous conjec-
ture) that it is the ancient Tarichea. The ruins, he
says, extend considerably to the north along the lake.
Among them he saw the remains of a small church,
of white marble, with some pilasters about it ; he
observed also a round port for small boats. Mr. Buck-
ingham says: “ Tal-hhewn, though now only a sta-
tion of Bedouins, appears to have been the site of
some considerable settlement, as ruined buildings,
hewn stones, broken pottery, &c., are scattered around
* Matt. iv. 13.
+ Burckhardt writes it Tel Hoom, which is somewhat nearer the
supposed ancient name.
294 PAL ESTINE : OR,
here over a wide space. The foundations of a large
and magnificent edifice "are still to be traced here,
though there remains not sufficient of the building
itself to decide whether it was a temple or a palace.
It appears to have had its greatest length from north
to south, and thus presented a narrow front towards
the lake. The northern end of the building is sixty-
five paces in length ; and, as the foundation of the
eastern wall appears to extend from hence down
close to the sea, it must have been nearly four times
that measurement, or two hundred paces in extent.
Within this space are seen large blocks of sculptured
stone, in friezes, cornices, mouldings, &c., and among
them two masses which looked like pannels of some
sculptured wall. I conceived them at first to have
been stone doors, but they were too thick for that
purpose, and had no appearance of pivots for hinges ;
nor could they have been sarcophagi, as they were
both perfectly solid. The sculpture seems to have
been originally fine, but is now much defaced by time.
The block was nine spans long, four and a half spans
wide, and two spans thick in its present state, and lay
on its edge against other hewn stones.
“Among the singularities we noticed here, were
double pedestals, double shafts, and double capitals,
attached to each other in one solid mass, having been
perhaps thus used at the angles of colonnades. There
were at least twenty pedestals of columns within this
area, occupying their original places, besides many
others overturned and removed, and all the capitals
we saw were of the Corinthian order and of a large
size. -
“ Near to this edifice, and close upon the edge of
the lake, are the walls of a solid building, evidently
constructed with fragments of the adjacent ruins, as
THE HOLY LAND. 295
there are seen in it shafts of pillars worked into the
masonry, as well as pieces of sculptured stones inter-
mingled with plain ones. This small building is
vaulted within, though the Arabs have raised a flat
terrace on its roof; and a poor family, with their
cattle, now use the whole for their dwelling.
“To the north-east of this spot, about two hundred
yards, are the remains of a small domestic bath, the
square cistern, and channels for supplying it with
water, being still perfect; and close by is a portion
of the dwelling to which it was probably attached,
with a narrow winding stair-case on one of its sides.
The blocks of the great edifice are exceedingly large ;
and these, as well as the materials of the smaller
buildings and the fragments scattered around in every
direction, are chiefly of the black porous stone which
abounds throughout the western shores of the lake.
Some masses of coarse white marble are seen, how-
ever, in the centre of the large ruin, and some sub-
terraneous work appears to have been constructed
there of that substance. The whole has an air of
great antiquity, both from its outward appearance
and its almost complete destruction, but the style of
the architecture is evidently Roman.”
Upon what authority this site is said to have borne
the name of Capernaum, does not appear; but it
must be very strong to overbalance the obvious ob-
jections to the conjecture. In the first place, Dr.
Richardson's information is positive, that the ruins of
Capernaum still retain their ancient name. Secondly,
there is no reason to suppose that that town was ever
a place of such consequence as these ruins indicate.
Its being “exalted to heaven” is to be understood
* Matt. xi. 23
296 PALESTINE ; OR,
of its having had our Lord for an inhabitant. Fur-
ther, the modern appellation is a strong presumption
against the supposition, as the Arabs never change
the ancient names, except by corrupting them. Van
Egmont and Heyman mention another place, about
three hours' journey from Tiberias, “where are the
ruins of a city which seems to have been large : the
country people call it Misdel, and pretended it to be
the ancient Capernaum.” To this it has probably no
better claim than Talhewn has ; but the statement
shews how little dependence is to be placed on vague
reports of the kind, unsupported by the present names
of the places. Assuredly, none of the country people
know what any place, that has lost its ancient appella-
tion, used to be called eighteen hundred years ago.
Burckhardt states, that at Tel Hoom, there is a well
of salt water called Tennour Ayoub, and the rivulet
El Eshe empties itself into the lake just by. At some
short distance, more to the S.W., is a spring near the
border of the lake, called Ain Tabegha, with a few
houses and a corn-mill ; but the water is so strongly
impregnated with salt as not to be drinkable. This
must be the place which Mr. Buckingham calls
Tahhbahh, where he found only one Arab family;
but he states that there are several hot springs here,
of the same nature as those below Oom Kais, but
much more copious. “Around them,” he says, “are
remains of four large baths, each supplied by its own
separate spring, and each having an aqueduct for
carrying off its superfluous waters into the lake, from
which they are distant about three hundred yards.
The most perfect of these baths is an open octangular
basin of excellent masonry, stuccoed on the inside,
being one hundred and five paces in circumference,
and about twenty-five feet in depth. We descended
THE HOLY LAND. 297
to it by a narrow flight of ten stone steps, which lead
to a platform about twelve feet square, and elevated
considerably above the bottom of the bath, so that
the bathers might go from thence into deeper water
below. This large basin is now nearly filled with tall
reeds, growing up from the bottom ; but its aqueduct,
which is still perfect, and arched near the end, carries
down a full and rapid stream to turn the mill erected
at its further end. On the sides of this aqueduct are
seen incrustations similar to those described on the
aqueduct of Tyre, leading from the cisterns of Solo-
mon at Ras-el-ayn, and occasioned, no doubt, by the
same cause. The whole of the work, both of the
baths and its aqueduct, appears to be Roman ; and
it is executed with the care and solidity which gene-
rally mark the architectural labours of that people.
At a short distance beyond this, to the eastward, is a
small circular building called Hemmam-el-Aioobe, or
the Bath of Job, but it is apparently of the same age
as those near it.”
To the south of Tabegha, returning towards Ti-
berias, and still keeping the border of the lake, is a
ruined khan, called Khan Mennye or Munney; a
large and well-constructed building. “Here begins,”
says Burckhardt, (coming from the north,) “ a plain
of about twenty minutes in breadth, to the north of
which the mountain stretches down close to the lake.
That plain is covered with the tree called doum or
theder, which bears a small yellow fruit like the
zaſtrour.” It was now about mid-day, and the sun
* Pococke, evidently referring to the same fruit, describes it as
“ a little sort of apple, which is not disagreeable; it grows on a
thorny tree, and, they say, ripens at all seasons. . . If I do not
mistake,” he says, “ it is the nabbok.”
S 2
208 PALESTINE ; OR,
intensely hot ; we therefore looked about for a shady
spot, and reposed under a very large fig-tree, at the
foot of which a rivulet of sweet water gushes out from
beneath the rocks, and falls into the lake at a few
hundred paces distant. The tree has given its name
to the spring, Ain-el-Tin : near it are several other
springs, which occasion a very luxuriant herbage along
the borders of the lake.”" This is undoubtedly the
plain of Gennesareth, described by Josephus in such
glowing language ; and the Ain-el-Tin must be “the
fountain of Capernaum.”- Here we have still the
fig-tree asserting its claim to the soil, as mentioned
by Josephus, as well as the doom, a species of palm.
“The pastures of Mennye, Burckhardt adds, “are
proverbial for their richness among the inhabitants of
the neighbouring countries. High reeds grow along
the shore, but I found none of the aromatic reeds and
rushes mentioned by Strabo.”
Here then, if the authority of Josephus may be
built upon, we should expect to find traces of the
ancient Capernaum. t Between Khan Mennye and
El Medjdel, a distance of about three miles, there
occurs no modern village. It remains for future
travellers to pursue the inquiry, and ascertain whe-
ther any thing remains besides the name of that once
favoured town ; or whether our Saviour's denuncia-
* Travels in Syria, p. 319.
# See preceding note at p. 290.
# From comparing the parallel passages, Matt. xiv. 34, and
John vi. 23, 24, it would appear, that Capernaum was certainly in
the land of Gennesareth, and not far from Tiberias. Churches
were built, by order of Constantime, at Capernaum, Tiberias, and
Sepphoury. Some traces of such an edifice will probably remain
to identify the site—unless Tel Hoom was even at that time taken
for Capernaum.
"I‘HE HOLY LAN ID. 200
tion against it has been literally accomplished, that it
should be cast down as it were into the grave."
“ In thirty-eight minutes from Khan Mennye,”
continues Burckhardt, “we passed a small rivulet,
which waters Wady Lymoun. At about an hour's
distance from our road, up in the mountain, we saw
the village Sendjol, about half an hour to the west
of which lies the village Hottein. In forty-five
minutes we passed the large branch of the Wady
Lymoun. The mountains which border the lake,
here terminate in a perpendicular cliff, which is
basaltish, with an upper stratum of calcareous rock;
and the shore changes from the direction S.W. by S.
to that of S. by E. In the angle stands the miserable
village El Medjdel, one hour distant from Ain-el-Tin.
The Wady Hamam branches off from Medjdel. Pro-
ceeding from hence, the shore of the lake is over-
grown with defle (solanum furiosum), and there are
several springs close to the water's side. At the end
of two hours and a quarter from Ain-el-Tin, we
reached Tabaria.” +
We must now, for the present, take leave of the
immediate vicinity of this consecrated lake, and pro-
ceed to explore the tract of country which lies west-
ward of Tiberias ; having yet to visit Nazareth, the
place where our Lord was brought up ; Mount Tabor,
the supposed site of the transfiguration; and some
other sites of peculiar interest.
* Hades, rendered “hell' by our translators, Matt. xi. 23, h. e.
priserrima et valde abjecta erit tua conditio.—Schleusner.
i Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, pp. 320, 321.
300 - PALESTINE ; OR,
FROM TIBERIAS TO NAZARETH.
THERE are two direct roads to Nazareth ; one by
Kefer-Sebt and El Khan ; the other by Louby, which
lies more to the south ; but travellers usually diverge
a little from the direct route to visit some of the
sacred places. The distance is computed to be nearly
twenty miles. We here take for our guides Burck-
hardt and Dr. Richardson.
In one hour from Tabaria, the traveller passes a
spring called Ain-el-Rahham. About half an hour
further, he passes a rocky spot, with heaps of stones
scattered around, called Khamsi Khabshaat, or “ the
place of the five loaves,” from a belief that our Lord
here wrought the miracle of feeding the five thousand
with five loaves and two fishes. A large black stone
is shewn as that on which he sat. Unfortunately,
however, for the credit of the tradition, the miracle
alluded to appears to have been wrought on the
opposite side of the Sea of Tiberias.” Moreover it is,
Mr. Buckingham says, “ on the top of a high and
rocky hill; so that it does not correspond to the local
features of the place described in any one particular,
and may be cited as another proof of the bungling
ignorance of those blind guides who so proudly call
themselves the guardians of the holy places.” Mr.
Burckhardt mentions a place, the distance of which
does not agree with this, being an hour further on,
called Hedjar-el-Naszara, the “stones of the Chris-
tians.” Here are four or five blocks of black stone,
upon which Christ is said to have reclined while ad-
dressing the multitude who flocked around him. The
priests of Nazareth stopped to read some prayers over
* Compare Matt. xiv. 13, 22, 34, and John vi, l, 17, 24.
THE HOI, Y LAND. 3O1
the stones. The road to this place leads over a high,
uncultivated plain. Dr. Richardson describes it as
a very hilly country, but says, the soil is deep, and
of a good quality, producing excellent pasture; it is,
however, poorly stocked. Mount Hermon and Mount
Tabor appear at a considerable distance on the left.
Below the Stones, a small plain called Sahel Hottein,
extends towards the N.E., the vale of Hutin of Po-
cocke. The country is intersected by wadys. About
an hour's distance from the Stones, upon the same
level, there is a hill of an oblong shape, with two
projecting summits, on one of its extremities: the
natives call it Keroun Hottein, the Horns of Hottein;
but the Christians have given it the appellation of
Mons Beatitudinis, the Mount of the Beatitudes,
under which name it is described by both Maundrell
and Pococke. From the plain to the south, it appears
like a long, low hill with a mount at each end, and
at first sight the whole hill appears to be rocky and
uneven ; but the eastern mount is a level surface,
covered with fine herbage. About the middle of this
mount are the foundations of a small church, twenty-
two feet square, on a ground a little elevated, which
is the supposed place occupied by our Lord in deliver-
ing the “sermon on the mount.” To the west of
this is a tank or under-ground cistern. It is tedious
to have to refute all the blundering legends which
so industriously misplace the occurrences of sacred
history. It is sufficiently clear, that the mountain
into which our Lord had retired from the multitude,
when his disciples came to him on the occasion re-
ferred to, was near Capernaum, * to which he de-
scended immediately from the hill ; for, “when he
* Compare Matt. viii. 5. Luke vii. 1,
302 PALESTINI : OR,
had ended all his sayings in the audience of the peo-
ple, he entered into” that town. That Capernaum
was not in this direction, is equally certain, on ae-
count of the distance from the coast. The Horns of
Hottein cannot be less distant from the plains of Gen-
nesareth than from ten to twelve miles. If it has no
pretensions, however, to its Christian name, the view
which is afforded from its elevated summit, amply
repays the ascent, and justifies the taste of the ubi-
quitous Helena, or whoever fixed upon this site for
the chapel of the beatitudes. “ lºor its grandeur,”
says Dr. Clarke, “independently of the interest ex-
cited by the different objects, there is nothing equal
to it in the Holy Land. From this situation we
perceived that the plain over which we had been
riding (from Turam) is itself very elevated. Far
beneath appeared other plaims, one lower than the
other, in a regular gradation, reaching eastward as
far as the Sea of Galilee. This lake, almost equal
in the grandeur of its appearance to that of Geneva,
spreads its waters over all the lower territory, ex-
tending from the morth-east towards the south-west.
Its eastern shores exhibit a sublime scene of moun-
tains towards the north and south, and they seem to
close it in at either extremity. The cultivated plains
reaching to its borders, which we beheld at an
amazing depth below, resembled, by the various hues
their different produce presented, the motley pattern
of a vast carpet. To the north appeared snowy
summits, towering beyond a series of intervening
mountains. *....To the south-west, at the distance
of only twelve miles, we beheld Mount Tabor, having
a conical form, and standing quite insular upon the
* Probably Djebel Sheikh,
'I' II E HOLY LAN D. 3O3
northern side of the wide plains of Esdraelon. The
mountain whence this superb view was presented, con-
sists entirely of limestone ; the prevailing constituent
of all the mountains in Greece, Asia Minor, Syria,
Phenicia, and Palestine.”*
The country becomes better inhabited, though the
road still leads over an uneven, uncultivated track, as
the traveller approaches Kefer Kenna, or Cane Galil :
the Cana where Christ performed his first miracle, of
turning water into wine, Dr. Richardson says, that
they passed several comfortable villages, with consi-
derable cultivation on the hills and valleys round them.
Cana itself is a meat village, with a copious spring,
surrounded with plantations of olive and other fruit
trees. Burckhardt makes it four hours and a quarter,
Dr. Richardson about five hours and a half, from
Tiberias ; but possibly their rate of travelling differed,
and the distance may safely be computed at between
fifteen and sixteen miles. “Here,” says the latter.
“ in a small Greek church, we were shewn an old
stone pot, made of the common compact limestone of
the country, which, the hierophant informed us, is one
of the original pots that contained the water which
* Travels, &c. vol. iv. (8vo.) pp. 201, 202. Pococke has given
a more specific account of the objects included in this extensive
prospect. “To the S.W. I saw Jebel Sejar extending to Sephor,
the tops of Carmel, then Jebel Turan near the Plain of Zabulon,
which extends to Jebel Huttin. Beginning at the N.W. and going
to the N.E., I saw Jebel Igermick, about which they named to
me these places: Sekeneen, Ellyany, Sejaour, Nah, flameh, Mogor,
Qrady, Tremon, Kobreslad , and further E. on other hills, Meirom,
Tokin on a hill, and Nouesy. Directly N. of Huttin, and to the
F. of the hill on which that city stands, Khan Tehar and Khan
£minie were mentioned ; and to the N. of the Sea of Tiberias, t
saw Jebel Sheikh.” Other villages were pointed out by his guide
in other directions, but they are names of no interest.
304 PALESTINE ; OR,
underwent this miraculous change.” In the village,
Pococke saw a large ruined building, the walls of
which were almost entire; whether it was a house
or a church, he could not well judge, but “they say,
the house of the marriage was on this spot.” Near it
stood a “large new Greek church,”—the one above
mentioned ; and on the south side of the village, near
the fountain, there were the ruins of another church,
dedicated to St. Bartholomew, and said to have been
his house. It seems, however, that there existed a
schismatical division of opinion with regard to the
whole legend. “The Greeks,” he says, “ have a tra-
dition, that the miracle was wrought at Gana, on the
west side of the Plain of Zabulon, about three or four
miles N.W. of Sepphorah :” but these schismatics
allow, that the water was carried there from this
fountain, a distance of four or five miles. Quaresmius
fixes the miracle here, while Adrichomius inclines
to favour the other at Kana. Who shall decide, when
such grave authorities differ 2 The fountain, however,
makes strongly against the said Adrichomius. Kepher
Kenna contains about 300 inhabitants, chiefly Catholic
Christians; it is pleasantly situated on the descent of
a hill, facing the south-west. - -
The road now ascends, and continues across chalky
hills, overgrown with low shrubs, till, in about an
hour and a half, the traveller descends into the de-
lightful Vale of Naszera (Nazareth). This is described
as a circular basin encompassed by mountains. “It
seems,” says Dr. Richardson, “as if fifteen mountains
met to form an enclosure for this delightful spot:
they rise round it like the edge of a shell, to guard
it from intrusion. It is a rich and beautiful field
in the midst of barren mountains; it abounds in fig-
THE HOLY LAN D. 305
trees, small gardens, and hedges of the prickly pear ;
and the dense, rich grass affords an abundant pasture.
The village stands on an elevated situation, on the
west side of the valley. The convent stands at the east
end of the village, on the high ground, just where the
rocky surface joins the valley.
Nassara, or Naszera, is one of the principal towns
in the pashabic of Acre. Its inhabitants are indus-
trious, because they are treated with less severity than
those of the country-towns in general. The population
is estimated at 3000, of whom 500 are Turks ; the
remainder are Christians. There are about ninety
Latin families, according to Burckhardt ; but Mr.
Connor reports the Greeks to be the most numerous :
there is, besides, a congregation of Greek Catholics,
and another of Maronites. The Latin convent is a
very spacious and commodious building, which was
thoroughly repaired and considerably enlarged in 1730.
The remains of the more ancient edifice, ascribed to
the mother of Constantine, may be observed in the
form of subverted columns, with fragments of capitals
and bases of pillars, lying near the modern building.
Pococke noticed, over a door, an old alto-relief of
Judith cutting off the head of Holofernes. Within the
convent is the Church of the Annunciation, containing
the house of Joseph and Mary, the length of which is
not quite the breadth of the church, but it forms the
principal part of it. The columns and all the interior
of the church are hung round with damask silk, which
gives it a warm and rich appearance. Behind the
great altar, is a subterranean cavern, divided into
small grottoes, where the Virgin is said to have lived.
Her kitchen, parlour, and bed-room are shewn, and
also a narrow hole in the rock, in which the child
306 PALESTINE ; OR,
Jesus once hid himself from his persecutors.” The
pilgrims who visit these holy spots, are in the habit of
knocking off Small pieces of stone from the walls,
which are thus considerably enlarging. In the church
a miracle is still exhibited to the faithful. In front of
the altar are two granite columns, each two feet one
inch in diameter, and about three feet apart. They
are supposed to occupy the very places where the
angel and the Virgin stood at the precise moment of
the annunciation.-f. The immermost of these, that of
the Virgin, has been broken away, some say by the
Turks, in expectation of finding treasure under it;
“So that,” as Maundrell states, “ eighteen inches’
length of it is clean gone between the pillar and
the pedestal.” Nevertheless it remains erect, sus-
pended from the roof, as if attracted by a load-stone.
It has evidently no support below ; and though it
touches the roof, the hierophant protests that it has
none above. “All the Christians of Nazareth,” says
Burckhardt, “ with the friars of course at their head,
affect to believe in this miracle, though it is perfectly
evident that the upper part of the column is connected
with the roof.” “ The fact is,” says Dr. Clarke,
“ that the capital and a piece of the shaft of a pillar
* Pococke says: “ They shew the spot from which they say the
holy house of Loretto was removed.” The story of its flight was
gravely repeated to Mr. Jolliffe; and he says, there are indentures
in the wall to designate the space the apartment occupied, about
twelve or fourteen feet by eight !
# “ These pillars are said to have been erected by St. Helena, she
having been divinely informed of the exact places: though this
the Greeks dispute with the Latins, alleging, that the angel, not
finding the Virgin at home, followed her to the fountain, whither
she was gone to fetch water, and there delivered his message.”—
WAN EG Mont's Travels, vol. ii. p. 18. \
THE HOLY LAND. 3()7
of grey granite have been fastened on to the roof of
the cave; and so clumsily is the rest of the hocus pocus
contrived, that what is shewn for the lower fragment
of the same pillar resting upon the earth, is not of the
same substance, but of Cipolino marble. About this
pillar, a different story has been related by almost
every traveller since the trick was devised. Maun-
drell and Egmont and Heyman were told, that it was
broken, in search of hidden treasure, by a pasha who
was struck with blindness for his impiety.” We were
assured that it separated in this manner, when the
angel announced to the Virgin the tidings of her con-
ception. The monks had placed a rail, to prevent
persons infected with the plague from coming to
rub against these pillars; this had been for many
years their constant practice, whenever afflicted with
any sickness. The reputation of the broken pillar,
for healing every kind of disease, prevails all over
Galilee.”
Burckhardt says, that this church, next to that
of the Holy Sepulchre, is the finest in Syria, and
, contains two tolerably good organs. Within the walls
of the convent are two gardens, and a small burying
ground : the walls are very thick, and serve occasion-
ally as a fortress to all the Christians in the town.
There are at present eleven friars in the convent ;
they are chiefly Spaniards. The yearly expenses of
the establishment are stated to amount to upwards of
900l. a small part of which is defrayed by the rent
of a few houses in the town, and by the produce of
some acres of corn-land : the rest is remitted from
Jerusalem. The whole annual expenses of the Terra
* Bernardin Surius, President of the Holy Sepulchre, and Com-
missary of the Holy Land, about the middle of the seventeenth
century, ascribes the fracture to a mogrebin.
3O8 PALESTINE ; OR,
Santa convents are about 15,000l., of which the Pasha
of Damascus receives about 12,000l. The Greek con-
vent of Jerusalem, according to Burckhardt’s autho-
rity, pays much more, as well to maintain its own
privileges, as with a view to encroach upon those of
the Latins.
To the north-west of the convent is a small church,
built over Joseph’s workshop. Both Maundrell and
Pococke describe it as in ruins ; but Dr. Clarke says:
“This is now a small chapel, perfectly modern, and
Ineatly white-washed.” To the west of this is a small
arched building, which, they say, is the synagogue
where Christ exasperated the Jews, by applying the
language of Isaiah to himself.” It once belonged to
the Greeks; but, Hasselquist says, was taken from
them by the Arabs, who intended to convert it into a
mosque, but afterwards sold it to the Latins. This
was then so late a transaction, that they had not had
time to embellish it. The “Mountain of the Precipi-
tation,” is at least two miles off; so that, according
to this authentic tradition, the Jews must have led our
Lord a marvellous way. But the said precipice is
shewn as that which the Messiah leaped down to escape
from the Jews ; and as the monks could not pitch
upon any other place frightful enough for the miracle,
they contend that Nazareth formerly stood eastward of
its present situation, upon a more elevated spot. Dr.
Clarke, however, says, that the situation of the modern
town answers exactly to the description of St. Luke.
“ Induced,” he says, “by the words of the Gospel, to
* Luke iv. 16, 28. Mr. Jolliffe, apparently alluding to the same
building, describes it as “ the school where Christ received the
first rudiments of his education.” Major Mackworth was told
the same tale in 1821; so that this appears the newest and most
approved tradition.
THE HOLY LAND. 309
examine the place more attentively than we should
otherwise have done, we went, as it is written, out
of the city, “to the brow of the hill whereon the city
is built,” and came to a precipice corresponding to the
words of the Evangelist. It is above the Maronite
church, and probably the precise spot alluded to by
the text.” -
But the most precious and celebrated relic of which
Nazareth can boast, is our Lord's dining-table, a large
stone at which the monks affirm that he dined both
before and after his resurrection. It is of the common
hard limestone of the country, is stuck fast in the
ground, and its upper surface declines. Hasselquist
states, that it is said to have been formerly covered
with iron plates, “ the marks of which are yet to be
seen.” They have built a chapel over it ; and upon
the walls, several copies of a printed certificate are
affixed, asserting its title to reverence.” There is not,
Dr. Clarke says, an object in all Nazareth so much
the resort of pilgrims, Greeks, Catholics, Arabs, and
even Turks, as this stone; “the two former classes,
on account of the seven years’ indulgence granted
to those who visit it; the two latter, because they
believe that some virtue must reside within a stone
before which all comers are so eager to prostrate
themselves.”
“About a furlong to the north of the village, is
* Papal certificate, transcribed by Dr. Clarke. — “ Tradictio
continua est, et nunquam interrupta, apwd omnes nationes Orientales,
hanc petram, dictam Mensa Christi, illam ipsam esse supra quam
Dominus moster Jesus Christus cum suis comedit Discipulis, ante
et post swam resurrectionem d mortuis. Et Sancta Romana Ec-
clesia Indulgentiam concessit septem annorum et totidem quadra-
genartºm, omnibus Christi fidelibus hunc sanctum locum visitantibus,
recitando Saltem ibi untum Pater, et Ave, dummodo sit in statu.
gratiae.”
310 PALESTINE ; or,
a fountain, over which is an arch ; it runs into a
beautiful marble vase, that seems to have been a
tomb. Beyond it is a Greek church, under-ground,
where, the Greeks say, the angel Gabriel first saluted
the Blessed Virgin ; there is a fountain in it, and
formerly, there was a church built over it.””
The road to the “mountain of the precipitation”
lies over a tolerably level space for about a mile, wind-
ing in a southern direction; it then becomes necessary
to dismount, on account of the ruggedness of the road,
which descends into a deep ravine between two hills.
After scrambling up the southern point for about a
quarter of an hour, you arrive at an altar in a recess
hewn out of the rock, and some remains of a mosaic
pavement. Near it are two large circular cisterns,
well stuccoed inside, and several portions of buildings,
said to be the remains of an establishment founded
by St. Helena. The monks come here sometimes, to
celebrate mass. Immediately over this spot, about
forty feet higher, two large flat stones are set up
edgeways, like a parapet wall, close to the edge of the
precipice; and here, they say, the Jews would have
thrown down our Saviour. In the centre, and scat-
tered over different parts of one of them, are several
round marks, like the deep imprint of fingers in wax,
which are shewn as the prints of Christ's hands and
ſ
* Pococke.—Dr. Clarke speaks of a fountain in the valley,
which he denominates the Fountain of the Virgin, but which
Pocockc calls Beer-Emir, the Well of the Prince, where he saw
an ancient marble coffin, with three festoons in relief. It is to
the west of Nazareth. Mr. Jolliffe says: “ In a Greek church,
about two furlongs from this spot (Mensa Christi), there is a
fountain where the mother of Jesus was accustomed to resort;
the water is pure and of swcet flavour.” Dr. Clarke has pro-
bably confounded this Fountain of the Virgin with Beer-
Emir.
THE HOLY LAND. 31 1
feet, when he resisted the Jews, and so escaped being
precipitated ; although other authorities, equally cre-
ditable, state that he leaped down, and Brocardus
says, the place is called Saltus Domini, the Lord’s leap.
This is assuredly the most bungling of all the absurd
traditions which have been coined by the fertile brains
of the monks. The situation is all but inaccessible ;
it is not on a hill on which Nazareth could ever have
been built; it is two miles from the supposed syna-
gogue ; and, as if the representation which makes our
Lord cling to a stone for safety, were not absurd
enough, the supposed marks are such as could not
have been made by any possible position of the human
hand in a less unyielding substance.
When the French invaded Syria, Nazareth was
occupied by six or eight hundred men, whose ad-
vanced posts were at Tabaria and Szaffad. Two
hours from hence, in the Plain of Esdraelon, near the
village of Foule, General Kleber sustained, with a
corps not exceeding 1,500 men, the attack of the whole
Syrian army, amounting, it is said, to 25,000. Having
formed his battalion into a square, he continued fight-
ing from sun-rise to mid-day, until they had expended
almost all their ammunition. Bonaparte, informed of
his perilous situation, then advanced to his support
with 600 men ; at the sight of whom the Turks, panic-
struck, took precipitately to flight: several thousands
were killed, and many drowned in the river Daboury,
which then inundated part of the plain. Bonaparte
dined at Nazareth, and then returned to Acre. After
the retreat of the French from Acre, Djezzar Pasha
resolved on causing all the Christians in his dominions
to be massacred, and had actually sent orders to that
effect to Nazareth and Jerusalem. But Sir Sidney
Smith, on being apprized of his intention, sent him
31 2 PALESTINE ; OR,
word, that if a single Christian head should fall, he
would bombard Acre, and set it on fire. Sir Sidney's
interference is still remembered with heartfelt grati-
tude by all the Christians, who look upon him as their
deliverer. “His word,” says Burckhardt, “I have
often heard both Turks and Christians exclaim, was
like God’s word—it never failed.”"
The Christians of Nazareth enjoy great liberty.
“I was told,” says the last-mentioned traveller, “that
about thirty years ago, the padre guardiano of the
convent was also sheikh, or chief-justice of the town,
an office for which he paid a certain yearly sum to the
Pasha of Acre. The police of the place was conse-
quently in his hands ; and when any disturbance
happened, the reverend father used to take his stick,
repair to the spot, and lay about him freely, no matter
whether upon Turks or Christians.” The guardian
has still much influence in the town ; and the fathers
of the convent go a shooting in their monastic habits,
to several hours' distance from the town, without ever
being insulted by the Turks. At the time of Burck-
hardt’s visit, however, the personage of chief conse-
quence at Nazareth, was M. Catafogo, a native of
Aleppo, but of Frank origin. He rented from the
Pasha about twelve villages in the neighbourhood, for
about 3000l. and his profits were said to be consider-
able. He was a merchant, and meddled much in the
politics and intrigues of the country, by which means
he had become a person of great consequence.
ROUTE FROM NAZARETH TO SZALT.
Fao M. Nazareth there is a route, frequented by
merchants, through Bisan to Szalt, which was taken
* Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, pp. 340, 341.
THE HOLY LAND. 31 3
by Burckhardt. In two hours from Nazareth, he
passed a small rivulet; in two hours and a half, the
village Denouny, and near it, the ruins of Endor,
where, he says, the witch's grotto is shewn. He
crossed the Plain of Esdraelon, in a S.S.E. direction ;
and, leaving Mount Tabor to the left, in five hours
and a half reached the village of Om-el-Taybe, be-
longing to the district of Djebel Nablous, or, as it
is also called, Belled Harthe. At six hours and three
quarters, he passed the village of Meraszrasz, upon
the summit of a chain of hills on the side of Wady
Oeshe, which falls into the Jordan ; and then descend-
ing, in about seven hours and three quarters from
Nazareth, reached the bottom of the Valley of El
Ghor. Half an hour further, pursuing the valley
southwards, brought him to Bisan. Here the chain of
mountains bordering the valley, declines considerably
in height, presenting merely elevated ground, quite
open to the west; but at one hour's distance, towards
the south, the mountains begin again. Crössing the
valley in a S.S.E. direction, our traveller arrived at
the banks of the Jordan, where it is fordable ; it was
then (July) about eighty paces broad, and about three
feet deep. After passing the river, he continued his
route close along the foot of the eastern mountain.
In half an hour from the ford, he crossed Wady
Mous; in one hour and a quarter, Wady Yabes ; and
in two hours came to a stony and hilly district, inter-
sected by several deep but dry wadys, called Korn-el-
Hemar, the ass's horn : it projects into the Ghor
about four miles, and, when seen from the north,
appears to close the valley. A fertile tract succeeds to
this hilly ground, overgrown with bouttom, or wild
pistachio-trees. At the end of six hours, the traveller
passed to the right the ruins of Amata, on the decli-
PART II. •r.
314 PALESTINE ; OR,
vity of the mountain, whence a small rivulet descends
into the plain. In six hours and a half he reached
Mezar Abou Obeida. A quarter of an hour further is
the northern branch of Nahr-el-Zerka, the principal
stream being at the distance of one hour from Abou
Obeida. The road then ascends the mountain by a
steep acclivity: it is calcareous rock, with layers of
various-coloured sand-stone and basalt. On the sum-
mit is a ruined site, which the Arabs called El Meysera.
The road continues over an uneven tract, along the
summit of the mountain ridge, which forms the
northern limits of the district called El Belka.
“Here,” says Burckhardt, “we were refreshed by
cool winds, and every where found a grateful shade of
fine oak, and wild pistachio-trees, with a scenery more
like that of Europe than any I had yet seen in Syria.”
At the end of two hours from Meysera, he reached
the foot of the mountain called Djebel Djelaad, or
Djelaoud, the Gilead of the Scriptures, on which there
is a ruined town of the same name. In three hours
and a quarter, he passed near the top of Djebel Osha,
which overlooks the whole of the Belka. The forest
here grows thicker, consisting of oak, pistachio, balout,
and keykab trees. In three hours and three quarters,
he descended the southern side of the mountain near
the tomb of Osha; and in three quarters of an hour
more, reached Szalt. We have given this brief outline
of the whole route from Nazareth, as it occurs in
Burckhardt, but reserve a further description of the
country east of the Jordan for another place.
MOUNT TABOR.
Mo UNT TAB on, having been pitched upon as the
scene of the Transfiguration, ranks among the sacred
THE H () LY LAND. 315
places to which pilgrims repair from Nazareth. It is
minutely described by both Pococke and Maundrell.
The road from Nazareth lies for two hours between
low hills; it then opens into the Plain of Esdraelon.
At about two or three furlongs within the plain, and
six miles from Nazareth, rises this singular mount,
which is almost entirely insulated, its figure repre-
senting a half-sphere.” “It is,” says Pococke, “one
of the finest hills I ever beheld, being a rich soil that
produces excellent herbage, and is most beautifully
adorned with groves and clumps of trees. The ascent
is so easy, that we rode up the north side by a winding
rôad. Some authors mention it as near four miles
high, others as about two : the latter may be true, as
to the winding ascent up the hill. The top of it,
which is about half a mile long, and near a quarter
of a mile broad, is encompassed with a wall, which
Josephus built in forty days : there was also a wall
along the middle of it, which divided the south part,
on which the city stood, from the north part, which is
lower, and is called the meidan, or place, being pro-
bably used for exercises when there was a city here,
which Josephus mentions by the name of Ataburion.
Within the outer wall on the north side, are several
deep fosses, out of which, it is probable, the stones
were dug to build the walls; and these fosses seem
to have answered the end of cisterns, to preserve the
rain-water, and were also some defence to the city.
There are likewise a great number of cisterns under-
ground, for preserving the rain-water. To the south,
where the ascent was most easy, there are fosses cut.
on the outside, to render the access to the walls more
* Mr. Jollife says, “that of a cone with the point struck off;”
which most correctly describes its appearance.
316 PALESTINE ; OR,
difficult. Some of the gates also of the city remain :
as Bab-el-howah, the gate of the winds, to the west :
and Bab-el-kwbbe, the arched gate, a small one to the
south.* Antiochus, King of Syria, took the fortress
on the top of this hill. Vespasian also got possession of
it; and, after that, Josephus fortified it with strong
walls. But-what has made it more famous than any
thing else, is the common opinion, from the time of
St. Jerome, that the transfiguration of our Saviour
was on this mountain. On the east part of the hill
are the remains of a strong castle ; and within the
precinct of it is the grot, in which are three altars in
memory of the three tabernacles which St. Peter pro-
posed to build, and where the Latin fathers always
celebrate on the day of the Transfiguration. It is
said, there was a magnificent church built here by
St. Helena, which was a cathedral when this town
was made a bishop’s see. There was formerly a con-
vent of Benedictine monks here ; and, on another part
of the hill, a monastery of Basilians, where the Greeks
have an altar, and perform their service on the festival
of the Transfiguration. On the side of the hill, they
shew a church in a grot, where they say Christ
charged his disciples not to tell what things they had
seen till he was glorified.” + -
* Burckhardt, describing the spot, says: “A thick wall, con-
structed of large stones, may be traced quite round the summit,
close to the edge of the precipice: on several parts of it are the
remains of bastions. The area is overspread with the ruins of pri-
vate dwellings, built of stone with great solidity.”
+ “ I cannot forbear to mention in this place an observation,
which is very obvious to all that visit the Holy Land, viz. that
almost all passages and histories related in the Gospel, are repre-
sented by them that undertake to shew where every thing was
done, as having been done most of them in grottoes; and that
even in such cases where the condition and the circumstances of
THE HOLY LAND. 31 7
•
Maundrell's account is singularly at variance with
the above description, in respect to the extent of the
plain on the summit. “After a very laborious as-
cent,” he says, “ which took up near an hour, we
reached the highest part of the mountain. It has
a plain area at top, most fertile and delicious, of an
oval figure, extended about one furlong in breadth,
and two in length. This area is enclosed with trees
on all parts, except toward the south.” Hasselquist
agrees more nearly with Pococke, but yet differs from
both. “After travelling two hours (from Nazareth),
we began to ascend Tabor, cooled by its agreeable
dew, and refreshed by the milk of its fine herds of
goats. It was a league up to the top, stony and
difficult ; but we did not, however, dismount. On
the top of it is a fine plain, the sides of it rocky. The
hill is round, hath no precipices, is about four leagues
in circumference, beautiful and fruitful.” Van Eg-
mont and Heyman give the following account :—
“This mountain, though somewhat rugged and diffi-
cult, we ascended on horseback, making several circuits
the actions themselves seem to require places of another nature.
Thus, if you would see the place where St. Anne was delivered of
the blessed Virgin, you are carried to a grotto; if the place of
the Annunciation, it is also a grotto; if the place where the
blessed Virgin saluted Elizabeth, if that of the Baptist's, or that
of our blessed Saviour's nativity, if that of the agony, or that of
St. Peter's repentance, or that where the apostles made the creed,
or this of the transfiguration, all these places are also grottoes.
And, in a word, wherever you go, you find almost every thing
is represented as done under ground. Certainly grottoes were
anciently held in great esteem, or else they could never have
been assigned, in spite of all probabilitv, for the places in which
were done so many various actions. Perhaps it was the hermits'
way of living in grottoes, from the fifth or sixth century down-
ward, that has brought them ever since to be in so great reputa-
tion.”—Journey from Aleppo, &c.
- T 2
3.18 PALESTINE ; OR,
round it, which took us up about three quarters of an
hour. It is one of the highest in the whole country,
being thirty stadia, or about four English miles, a
circumference that rendered it more famous.* And
it is the most beautiful I ever saw, with regard to
verdure, being every where decorated with small oak
trees, and the ground universally enamelled with a
variety of plants and flowers, except on the south side,
where it is not so fully covered with verdure. f......
On this mountain are great numbers of red partridges,
and some wild-boars ; and we were so fortunate as to
see the Arabs hunting them. We left, but not with-
out reluctancy, this delightful place, and found at the
bottom of it a mean village called Deboura, or Tabour,
a name said to be derived from the celebrated Deborah
mentioned in Judges.”
Pococke notices this village, which stands on a rising
ground at the foot of Mount Tabor westward; and
the learned traveller thinks, that it may be the same
as the Daberath, or Daberah, mentioned in the Book
of Joshua, as on the borders of Zabulon and Issachar.:
“Any one,” he adds, “ who examines the fourth
chapter of Judges, may see that this is probably the
spot where Barak and Deborah met at Mount Tabor
* This must refer to its base. Burckhardt says, its top is about
half an hour in circuit.
# Hasselquist enumerates among the productions of Mount
Tabor, the oak, the carob-tree, the turpentine-tree, the holly, the
Inyrtle, the ivy, oats, onion, artichoke, rue, sage, wormwood,
saxifrage, (pimpinella officinalis,) poppy, laserwort, &c. He also
saw there, the rock-goat and the fallow-deer (cervus dama).
Burckhardt mentions ounces and wild boars. Van Egmont mem-
tions a tree which he discovered here, whose blossom resembled
that of the orange-tree, and had the same fragrant smell; but the
leaves were something like those of the linden-tree, and the fruit
is gathered to make rosaries.
# Josh. xix. 12; xxi. 28.
THE HOLY LAND. 319
with their forces, and went to pursue Sisera ; and on
this account, it might have its name from that great
prophetess, who then judged and governed Israel ; for
Josephus relates, that Deborah and Barak gathered
the army together at this mountain.” This point
Josephus was not required to prove, as the sacred
history contains explicit information on this head, to
which the Jewish historian was incapable of adding a
single particular. The name of the village seems,
however, more probably to be derived from the moun-
tain, than from the prophetess. Deborah, the name
of the place where she dwelt, and to which the
children of Israel came up to her for judgment, was
between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim,” and
consequently much further to the south. Whereas in
Deboura, or Dabour, we have the very Dabor or
Thaboor of the Scriptures, with only that slight cor-
ruption which the Hebrew names receive, as pro-
nounced by the Arabs. The mountain itself they cai,
Djebel Tour.
The legend which assigns this mount as the scene
of the Transfiguration, has neither probability nor
antiquity to recommend it, since it cannot be traced
further back than Jerome, a most suspicious authority.
It appears, indeed, to have been suggested by a critical
blunder. We read that our Lord took with him
Peter, and James, and John, and brought them up
“into a high mountain apart ;”+ from which it has
been sagely inferred, that the mountain spoken of
could be no other than Tabor, the word “apart” being
applied to the position of the mountain. “ The con-
clusion,” Maundrell remarks, “may possibly be true,
but the argument used to prove it seems incompetent;
* Judges iv. 5, + \latt. x v ii. 1 Mark ix. 2.
320 PALESTINE ; OR,
because the term x2+ iºſov, or apart, most likely relates
to the withdrawing and retirement of the persons here
spoken of, and not to the situation of the moun-
tain.” “ Of the justness of this remark, no one can
doubt who is conversant with the original, since the
same expression occurs repeatedly in the evangelical
narrative, and in every other instance is understood in
the sense of privately, or by themselves. - Now, for
the purpose of retirement, Mount Tabor could hardly
have been chosen by our Lord, as there is reason to
believe, that it was at the time a fortress of con-
siderable consequence. In every instance in which
mention is made of it in history, it is referred to as
a military post. It was here that Barak encamped
with ten thousand men, thirteen hundred years before
the Christian era; and it was still an important post,
in the reign of Vespasian. Populous as Galilee was,
it cannot be imagined that this fertile spot would ever
be deserted ; and we are told that there was a town
on the summit. It was at least a fortified place, and
not very likely, therefore, to have afforded a suitable
retreat for Peter to build there his three tabernacles.
The fact that, six days before the Transfiguration,
our Lord was at Cesarea Philippi, and that after that
event, he departed from the neighbourhood, and
“passed through Galilee” to Capernaum, renders it
probable that the mountain to which our Lord retired,
was towards the northern confines of the Holy Land.
But that it was not Mount Tabor, the reader must,
we think, feel satisfied. -
“From the top of Tabor,” says Maundrell, “ you
* x2+. i?ſov, SČ. zágºy, in loco privato, privatim, Seorsim.—
Schleusner.
+ See Matt. xiv. 13, 23; xvii. 19 ; xx. 17; xxiv. 3. Mark iv
24; vi. 31, 32. -
THE HOLY LAND. 321
have a prospect which, if nothing else, will reward
the labour of ascending it. It is impossible for man’s
eyes to behold a higher gratification of this nature.
On the N.W. you discern at a distance the Mediter-
ranean, and all round you have the spacious and
beautiful plains of Esdraelon and Galilee. Turning
a little southward, you have in view the high moun-
tains of Gilboa, fatal to Saul and his sons. Due east
you discover the Sea of Tiberias, distant about one
day's journey. A few points to the north appears
that which they call the Mount of the Beatitudes.
Not far from this little hill is the city Saphet : it
stands upon a very eminent and conspicuous mountain,
and is seen far and near.” Beyond this is seen a much
higher mountain, capped with snow, a part of the
chain of Antilibanus. To the south-west is Carmel,
and on the south the hills of Samaria.
The whole of Mount Tabor, according to Burck-
hardt, is calcareous. During the greater part of the
summer, it is covered in the morning with thick
clouds, which disperse towards mid-day. A strong
wind blows the whole of the day, and in the night
dews fall more copious than are usually known in
Syria. This traveller found on the summit, in 1810,
a single family of Greek Christians, refugees from
Ezra in the Haouran, who had retired to this remote
spot, to avoid paying taxes to the government, and
expected to remain unnoticed. “ They rented the
upper plain, at the rate of fifty piastres per annum,
from the Sheikh of Daboury, to which village the
mountain belongs. The harvest, which they were
now gathering in, was worth about 1,200 piastres, and
they had had the good fortune not to be disturbed by
any tax-gatherers : which would certainly not be the
case next year, should they remain here.” The Khala
322 PALESTINE ; oft,
of Djebel Tor is a large ruinous building at no great
distance from the foot of the mountain, inhabited by
a few families. It is about three hours and a quarter
from Tabaria; and a large fair is held here every
Monday.
About an hour's distance from the foot of Tabor,
towards the north-west, on the northern side of the
plain of Esdraelon, is the village of Eksall, (written
by Pococke, Zal,) supposed, with some probability, to
be the ancient Xaloth mentioned by Josephus, as one
of the boundaries of Lower Galilee.” It stands on one
of those low ridges of rock which are seen here and
there throughout the plain, and near it are many
sepulchres cut in the rock: “ some,” says Pococke.
“are like stone coffins above ground, others are cut
into the rock like graves, some of them having stone
covers over them.” Mr. Buckingham noticed a
sarcophagus of rude execution and unusually large
dimensions. He describes, also, some subterranean
vaults here, descended to by circular openings like
the mouths of wells, but which he did not enter.
“The most marked feature of the place, however,
was,” he adds, “ the many graves cut down into
the rock, exactly in the way in which our modern
graves are dug in the earth. These were covered
with rude blocks of stone, sufficiently large to overlap
the edge of the grave on all sides, and of a height
* “As for that Galilee which is called the Lower, it extends in
length from Tiberias to Zabulon, and of the maritime places,
Ptolemais is its neighbour. Its breadth is from the village called
Xaloth, which lies in the Great Plain as far as Bersabe. From
which beginning also is taken the breadth of the Upper Galilee, as
far as the village Baca, which divides the land of the Tyrians from
it: its length is also from Mcloth to Thella, a village near to Jor.
dam.”—Wars, book iii, chap. 6.
-
"THE HOLY LAND. 323
or thickness equal to the depth of the grave itself,
varying from two to four feet. There were in all,
perhaps, twenty of these covered sepulchres still per-
fect ; and in one, whose closing block had been so
moved aside as to leave an opening through which
the interior of the grave could be seen, a human skull
remained perfect.”
ROUTE FROM NAZARET II TO ACRE.
THE whole tract of country between Nazareth and
the coast was formerly studded with towns and vil-
lages. Josephus, describing the two Galilees, says:
“Their soil is universally rich and fruitful, and full
of the plantations of trees of all sorts, insomuch that
it invites the most slothful to take pains in its cul-
tivation, by its fruitfulness. Accordingly, it is all
cultivated by its inhabitants, and no part of it lies
idle. Moreover, the cities lie here very thick; and the
very many villages that are here, are every where so
full of people by the richness of their soil, that the
very least of them contained above fifteen thousand
inhabitants.”
About three hours from Nazareth, in the route to
Acre, is the site of the ancient Sepphoris, described by
Josephus as the largest city in Galilee, and is built in
a place by nature so very strong as to command the
country. The road lies at first in a northerly direc-
tion, over the hills which encompass the vale of Naza-
reth on that side ; it then turns to the westward,
over a hilly and stony tract, full of hard limestones,
such as are met with in Judea ; and Hasselquist
noticed the same plants here as in the country about
Jerusalem.” But at Sepphoury begins what Maun.
* In particular, kali fruticosum. And Dr. Clarke discovered 1
new species of pink, and some other rare plants.
3.24 PALESTINE ; or,
drell styles “ the delicious plain of Zabulon.” He
was an hour and a half in crossing it, which would
make it, on the usual computation, about four miles
and a half in length. Hasselquist, however, states it
to be above three miles long and three quarters broad;
while Pococke conjectures it to be ten miles long and
three miles broad. Dr. Clarke says: “The scenery is
to the full as delightful as in the rich vales upon the
south of the Crimea: it reminded us of the finest
parts of Kent and Surrey. The soil, though stony,
is exceedingly rich.”
Sapphura, or Sepphoris, (the ancient Zippor, or
Tsippor,) at one time honoured with the name of
Diocaesarea, affords another instance of the preserva-
tion of the more ancient appellation in that by which
the site is still known to the natives. It is referred
to in the Talmud as the seat of a Jewish university,
and was famous for the learning of its rabbies. Jose-
phus writes it Sepphoris. In the Itinerary of R. Ben-
jamin, it is said to be twenty miles from Tiberias.
The miserable village which now occupies the site
of the ancient city, is called Sephoury. “ The re-
mains of its fortifications,” says Dr. Clarke, “ ex-
hibited to us an existing work of Herod, who, after
its destruction by Varus, not only rebuilt and fortified
it, but made it the chief city of his tetrarchy,” — an
honour which before was enjoyed by Tiberias. Here'
was held one of the five sanhedrims or judicatures
of Palestine, the others being at Jerusalem, Jericho,
Gadara, and Amathus. It was so advantageously
situated for defence, that it was deemed impregnable;
and its inhabitants often revolted against the Romans.
But when Vespasian was sent into Syria to subdue
the Jews, the gitizens of Sepphoris, sensible of the
power of the Romans, treated with Cestius Galhus
"THE HOLY LAN ID, 3.25
before Vespasian came, and received a Roman garri-
son. On the arrival of the general, a deputation met
him at Ptolemais, and promised to assist him against
their countrymen; and Vespasian, at their desire,
left with them as many horsemen and footmen as
he thought sufficient to oppose the incursions of the
Jews, if they should come against them.* Medals
of the city were coined afterwards in the reigns of
Domitian and Trajan. But what rendered it illus-
trious in later ages, was its being considered as the
native place of Joachim and Anna, the parents e. the
Virgin Mary. “Upon the spot where the house of
Joachim stood, a conspicuous sanctuary,” Quaresmius
states, “built with square stones, was afterwards
erected. It had two rows of pillars, by which the
vault of the triple mave was supported. At the upper
end were three chapels.” From a passage in Epi-
phanius, it appears that its construction was the work
of one Josephus, a native of Tiberias, who was au-
thorised by Constantine to erect this and other similar
edifices in the Holy Land. He built the churches of
Tiberias, Diocaesarea, and Capernaum, and was raised
to the rank of count by the emperor. This was to-
wards the latter end of the life of Constantine, so that
the church of Sepphoris must have been erected before
the middle of the fourth century. In the following
reign, A.D. 339, and the twenty-fifth of Constantius,
in consequence of a seditious insurrection of the citi-
zens, the city was destroyed by the Romans, and the
church appears to have shared in the general desola-
tion. In the time of the Crusades, the fountain of
Sepphoury, which is about a mile to the south-east,
* Joseph. Antiq. book xviii, chap. 3; xiv. 10, Wars, book iii.
chan. 2.
P A R 'l' : I. Uſ
326 PALESTINE ; or,
towards Nazareth, served as a place of rendezvous for
the armies belonging to the kings of Jerusalem, and
it is frequently mentioned by William of Tyre. But,
as no notice is taken by any of the monkish writers
of the church, it is concluded by Dr. Clarke, that it
never rose from its ruins. Doubdam, who passed
through Sepphoury in the middle of the seventeenth
century, has merely the following reference to it.
“The town is now a heap of ruins, and upon the
summit of the mountain, which is not high, is yet
to be seen the remains of a church built on the spot
where stood the house of Saint Joachim and Saint
Anna.” Dr. Clarke, from whom we have borrowed
the greater part of these particulars, gives the follow-
ing description of this noble ruin.
“We were conducted to the ruins of a stately
Gothic edifice, which seems to have been one of the
finest structures in the Holy Land. Here we entered,
beneath.lofty massive arches of stone. The roof of
the building was of the same materials. The arches
are placed at the intersection of a Greek cross, and
originally supported a dome or tower : their appear-
ance is highly picturesque, and they exhibit the
grandeur of a noble style of architecture. Broken
columns of granite and marble lie scattered among
the walls. One aisle of this building is yet entire.
At the eastern extremity, a small temporary altar had
been recently constructed by the piety of pilgrims : it
consisted of loose materials, and was of very modern
date.”" The learned traveller had the good fortune
to find here, and obtain possession of, three ancient
paintings, exactly resembling, in their style, those
curious specimens of the art which are found in the
* Travels, 8vo. vol. iv. pp. 140, 141.
THE HOLY I, AND. 327
churches of Russia, excepting that, instead of Greek,
they exhibited Arabic inscriptions. They had been
found by the Arabs in moving a heap of rubbish in
part of the church. One, which is painted on wood,
is supposed to represent Christ making himself known
to the two disciples at Emmaus. The second, which
is the most ancient, is a picture of the Virgin and
infant Jesus. The third has been painted upon an
Arabic manuscript, which appears to be the leaf of an
old copy-book, as the same line occurs repeatedly from
the top to the bottom. The subject of the painting
is the Virgin and her Son. These tablets are sup-
posed to have belonged to some church of Malkite
Greeks, but their antiquity cannot be precisely deter-
mined. Their being found here would lead one to
suppose, that the ruined church had at some period
been converted into a chapel by Greek Christians ; and
probably the temporary altar was erected by the same
parties that brought the pictures here. Their pre-
tensions to be considered as original decorations of the
church are very equivocal.
Perhaps, a sufficient reason may be found for the
neglected and desolate state of this ancient capital of
Galilee, in its proximity to Nazareth, which, during
the short-lived kingdom of Jerusalem, became the
chief city of the district, and was made an archiepis-
copal see, having under it the bishoprick of Tiberias,
and the priory of Mount Tabor. And ever since that
period, Nazareth has been held in the highest estima-
tion, as, next to the Holy City, the chief resort of
Christian pilgrims. The jealousy of the monks would
lead them to regard with no friendly eye a rival esta-
blishment in their immediate neighbourhood; and
thus, Sepphoury appears to have been abandoned by
the orthodox Latins to the schismatical Greeks. Has-
328 PALEST INE ; OR,
selluist states, that the modern village was inhabited
by Greeks. Dr. Clarke, however, says, that they now
consist principally of Maronites, with a few Druses.
Pococke says: “Here the Greeks have a small chapel,
and there are several broken stome coffins about the
village.”
The castle, “once the acropolis of the city,” stands
on the top of the hill nearly half a mile above the
village, and has an imposing appearance. There is
a fine tower of hewn stone; but neither Pococke nor
Clarke gives any description of it, that might enable
us to form a conjecture as to its probable date. An
ancient aqueduct still serves to supply several small
mills.
The plain of Zabulon, on which the traveller now
enters, Pococke says, is called Zaal-hatour. He
notices a well at the foot of a beautiful hill on the
left, called by the monks the well of Zabulon. On
the hill is a village named Bedoui. Van Egmont
and Heyman notice apparently the same spring, at
the foot of an eminence on which they observed a
ruined village about a mile and a half from the hill of
Sepphoury. Directly opposite to it, they saw, “at
the foot of a mountain, a walled village called Kaffer
Mender, defended by several forts.” Beyond this,
the road taken by Pococke leads through “the plea-
sant narrow vale of Abylene, having low hills on
each side covered with trees, chiefly the carob-tree
and a sort of oak with whitish leaves,”—to a village
of the same name, at that time the residence of a
great sheikh. Two miles further is another well, at
the foot of a hill, on which is a village called Pere.
Soon after, the traveller enters upon the ‘plain of Acre.
To the north of Pere, Pococke was informed that
there was a village called Damora, which Van Eg-
THE HOLY, LAND. 329
mont and Heyman refer to as the residence of a
sheikh, who had at the time the whole of the sur-
rounding plain under his jurisdiction, with several
villages, residing himself “ in a very large mansion-
house.” To the south of this is a village which,
about three months before, the said sheikh had as-
saulted and plundered, the inhabitants not having
shewn any great readiness to execute an order he had
sent them. Its name they write Chafamora. No
place occurs in Pococke's route, that comes nearer
this name than Swamor. But D’Anville notices a
village, the name of which he writes Shafa Amre,
which Dr. Clarke supposes to be the Chafamore of
Van Egmont : he himself writes it Shefhamer and
Cheffambre. But, it seems, times had changed ; the
aga of this village appears to have then been the chief
of the district. It is about seven miles from Sep-
phoury, and “stands upon the western declivity of
a ridge of eminences rising one above another in a
continuous series, from Libanus to Carmel.” We
look in vain, throughout the accounts respectively
given by these learned travellers, for any name that
might seem to indicate the site of the ancient strong
city of Zabulon, which, Josephus says, was called the
city of men, and divided the country of Ptolemais
from their nation. “It was of admirable beauty,
and had its hôuses built like those in Tyre, and Sidon,
and Berytus.” But Cestius plundered and set fire
to it. * : Maundrell's account of his route from Sep-
phoury to Acre is unusually meagre. “We were an
hour and a half,” he says, “ in crossing the plain of
Zabulon; and, in an hour and a half more, passed
by a desolate village on the right hand, by name
* Jose, hus, Wars, book ii, chap, xviii.
330 PALESTINE ; OR,
Satyra. In half an hour more we entered the plaims
of Acre, and in one hour and a half more arrived
at that place. Our stage this day was somewhat less
than seven hours (from Nazareth): it lay about west
and by north, and through a country very delightful
and fertile beyond imagination.” This, on the usual
computation of three miles an hour, makes the dis-
tance from Nazareth to Acre about twenty miles.
ROUTE FROM TIBERIAS TO DAMASCUS.
FROM Acre, there is a route along the coast and
across the mountains to Damascus ; but, though the
pashalic of Acre extends as high as Djebail, including
the mountains inhabited by the Druses, this part of
the coast was never considered as belonging to the
kingdom of Israel or the Holy Land. It will, there-
fore, more properly fall within our notice in the de-
scription of Syria.
There is a route from Jerusalem to Damascus on
either side of the sea of Galilee. From Tiberias, the
most direct road is that which lies through the ancient
Saphet, and crosses the Jordan at Jacob's bridge.
This route has been already described as far as Khan
Mennye. Pococke, however, seems to have deviated
further from the line of the lake. Ascending the hill
to the north of the vale of Hottein, he descended into
the valley beyond, and came to the place which, he
says, still bears the name of Baitsida ; he then, by
the Pass of Doves (Wady Hymam), entered the Vale
of Gennesareth. “We viewed,” he says, “Mag-
dolum (Medjdel) on the lake, and then went to the
round fountain, where we reposed awhile, and took
some refreshment ; and going north, passed by a
spring called Moriel, and began to ascend the hills
THE HOLY LAND. 3.31
w
towards Saphet, which I take to be the eastern end
of that chain of hills which runs from the sea, north
ward of the plain of Acre. There are several summits,
separated from one another by small valleys. One of
the first of these is called Rubasy. On the top of the
northern summit we passed by Aboutbesy ; in the
valley beneath it, is a bridge, called Geser Aboutbesy.
Here there is a stream which runs to the plain that is
to the west of the Lake of Tiberias.”
It is difficult to make any thing of these names,
which appear to be modern ; but the stream is pro-
bably that which Burckhardt notices under the name
of El Eshe, as emptying itself into the lake near Ain
Tabegha. It was nearly opposite to this spring that
he descended to the coast from Khan Djob Yousef, the
Khan of Joseph’s Well, which he makes two hours
and a quarter from Saphet, and one hour and a half
from the borders of the lake. In the time of Van
Egmont and Heyman, this khan was called the Khan
of Cuperli, “from its being built, together with seve-
ral other structures of the same kind in Turkey, by
a grand-vizier of that name.” They make it less
than an hour from the point at which they began to
ascend the mountains by a very troublesome road, and
describe it as “an excellent baiting-place both for
man and beast.” “The khan has on the outside the
appearance of a castle. You enter through a large
gate into a spacious area, round which are arched
piazzas serving for stables, and over them apartments
with terraces: near it is a mosque with a minaret,
and a large cistern, generally full of rain-water; but,
at the time we visited the khan, it was dry. On the
left side of this khan is also a small mosque, and a
pit covered with a cupola. The Turks will have this
to be the pit into which Joseph was thrown, before
332 PALESTINE ; OR,
his brethren sold him to the Ishmaelites ; but it is at
present no more than six spans in depth. Besides,
the Scripture represents the pit into which Joseph
was cast, as dry, whereas this contained very clear and
good water.”
At the time of Burckhardt's visit, the khan was
falling rapidly into ruin. It was then inhabited by
a dozen Moggrebin soldiers with their families, who
cultivate the fields near it. “Joseph's Well” is,
he says, held in veneration by Turks as well as
Christians: the former have a small chapel just by
it, and caravan travellers seldom pass here without
saying a few prayers in honour of Yousef. He de-
scribes it as about three feet in diameter, and at least
thirty feet in depth; which so ill accords with the
statement given by Van Egmont, that it is hard to
imagine that they were shewn the same well. But
it matters little : any well would equally answer the
purpose of the legend. Burckhardt avows his scepti-
cism on the point. “I was told,” he says, “ that
the bottom is hewn in the rock : its sides were well
lined with masonry as far as I could see into it, and
the water never dries up ; a circumstance which
makes it difficult to believe that this was the well
into which Joseph was thrown.” That which was
shewn to Pococke as Djob Yousef, he describes as
“a cistern under ground.” The whole of the moun-
tain in the vicinity is covered with large pieces of
black stone; but the main body of the rock is cal-
careous. “The country people relate, that the tears
of Jacob, dropping upon the ground while he was in
search of his son, turned the white stones black, and
they in consequence call these stones Jacob’s tears.”
There is no good reason to suppose that Dothan,
whither Joseph came in search of his brethren, was
THE HOLY LAND. 333
so far north of Shechem as this part of Galilee. “It
is a long way from Hebron,” Dr. Richardson justly
remarks, “ for the sons of Jacob to go to feed their
herds, and a still further way for a solitary youth like
Joseph to be sent by his father in quest of them.
This pit is nearly the same distance from Shechem,
, that Shechem is from Hebron ; namely, about two
days and a half, or three days’ journey.” The pit
in question, the learned traveller believes, derives its
name from a chief of Saracenic celebrity. Thus, there
is a “Joseph’s Hall” at Cairo, which has been igno-
rantly supposed to owe its name to the patriarch,
although, in fact, the work of a Mameluke chieftain.
Dr. Pococke accounts for the blunder respecting Djob
Yousef, by supposing it to have originated in the
mistaken notion that Saphet is the ancient Bethulia.
The latter he considers to be no other place, in fact,
than Bethel. The real Dothan, he remarks, “ could
not be a great way from Bethulia, because Holofernes's
army extended from Bethulia to Dothan ; and though
this place might anciently have been called Dothan, as
it is at present by the Jews, yet its great distance
from Shechem makes it unlikely to be the place where
Joseph went to his brethren, as it is the distance of
two or three ordinary days’ journey, and could not be
performed in less than five or six days with the cattle
which they were charged to feed.” The district is
called by the natives Koua-el-Kerd, and, a little lower
down, Redjel-el-Kaa, neither of which names presents
any affinity to Dothan. The whole legend may,
therefore, be safely dismissed as another of those igno-
rant fictions which have perplexed the geography of
the Holy Land.*
• Dr. Richardson arrived at Djob Yousef (Gib Youseuff, Jeb
Joseph 2) from Nazareth. About four hours after turning out of
U 2
334 PALESTINE ; OR,
Saphet, by Burckhardt written Szaffad, has already
been referred to as one of the four holy cities of the
Talmud. Its situation is very high, and commands
the whole country round. It is described by Burck-
hardt as a neatly-built town, standing upon several
low hills, which divide it into different quarters: of
these, the largest is inhabited exclusively by Jews,
who esteem Szaffad a sacred place. “The whole may
contain 600 houses, of which 150 belong to the Jews,
and from 80 to 100 to the Christians. The town is
governed by a Mutsellim, whose district comprises
about a dozen villages. The garrison consists of
Moggrebins, the greater part of whom have married
here, and cultivate a part of the neighbouring lands.
The town is surrounded with olive-plantations and
vineyards, but the principal occupations of the in-
habitants are indigo-dyeing and the manufacture of
cotton cloth. On every Friday a market is held,
to which all the peasants of the neighbourhood re-
sort.” -
The summit of the hill, round the foot of which
Szaffad may be said to lie, is crowned with an ancient
castle, part of which, Pococke says, the Jews think
to be as old as the time of their prosperity. When
he visited it, there were only great ruins: he notices
particularly “two fine, large, round towers that be-
longed to it.” The Christians had possession of the
the road to Tiberias, he came to a large village on the side of a
hill, called Megåra, and a little further on, another village called
Mensura. In Pococke's route to Saphet, occur the names of Akeby,
near which are grottoes cut in several parts of the perpendicular
rocks; Cesy; Adborow ; and Wady Lakab. Also, a little to the
north of Djob Yousef, a place called Remety. Future travellers
may throw light on these names, which are apparently allied to
nothing ancient or intelligible.
THE HOLY LAND. 335
fortress in the time of the Crusades; and “I saw,”
he adds, “on a building in the town, a relief of the
arms of the knights of St. John of Jerusalem : it was
surrendered by them to Saladin, Sultan of Egypt.”
The town is a little lower down, on three sides of the
hill on which the castle stands : it is a considerable
town, having been formerly the place of residence of
the pasha of this country, on which account it was
called the pashalic of Saphet; and the whole territory
now goes by the name of the country of Saphet, but
the pasha resides at Sidon, and a cadi from Constanti-
* Brocardus mentions Saphet in the following words: “Sa-
phet, or Sephet, is a city or castle, formerly belonging to the
knights-templars. The castle is handsome, very strong, and situ-
ated on a mountain of extraordinary height, but was taken by the
Soldan, and, to the great detriment of the Christians, still con-
tinues in his possession, as he by this means keeps in subjection
all Galilee; that is, the tribes of Zebulon, Naphthali, Asher,
Issachar, Manasseh, and the whole country as far as Tyre and
Sidon.” Another writer of the middle ages states, that Cora-
dine, prince of Damascus, built at Saphet a very strong castle,
which Saladin, the scourge of the Christians, reduced by a long
siege to such extremities, that the besieged, pressed by famine,
and having obtained leave of the grand-master of the knights-
templars, Surrendered to that tyrant. In the year 1239, Benedict,
bishop of Marseilles, having made a voyage to the Holy Land,
encouraged the templars to rebuild the castle of Saphet: he is
said to have laid the first stone himself, and to have animated
the workmen by a spirited oration. He then returned to his
native land, and at his death bequeathed to this castle, “ as to
his beloved son,” his whole fortune and his blessing. In 1266,
this castle again fell into the hands of the Infidels, through the
treachery of its commander, one Leo, a Syrian knight, who had
embraced the Mahommedan religion. The whole garrison, to-
gether with the inhabitants, amounting to three thousand, are
said to have been formally beheaded by the Infidels, in violation
of their promise, given upon oath, that they should enjoy their
lives and liberties. See Van Egmont and Heyman's Travels,
vol. ii. p. 43.
336 PALESTINE ; OR,
nople lives here.” There are many Jews in this
place, it being a sort of university for the education
of their rabbies, of whom there are about twenty or
thirty here, and some of them come as far as from
Poland. They have no less than seven synagogues.
Several doctors of their law, who lived in the time
of the second Temple, are said to be buried here,
three of whom lie in a place which is now turned
into a mosque; and the Turks say, they are three of
the sons of Jacob. The Jews have a motion, that the
Messiah will reign here forty years before he will
take up his residence in Jerusalem. To the north of
the hill on which the castle stands, there are several
wells, which, they say, Isaac dug, and about which
there were such contentions between the herdsmen
of Isaac and Gerar; but they have much mistaken
the place, the Valley of Gerar, in which they were
dug, being at a great distance on the other side of
Jerusalem.”
Thus far Pococke. Turks, Jews, and Christians
seem, in this land of legends, to rival each other in
ignorant credulity. Van Egmont and Heyman de-
scribe “a cave at Saphet, held in great veneration
by the Turks, who call it Jacob's Cave, pretending
that the patriarch and his family lived there when he
received the account of his son Joseph's death; which,
according to them, he lamented with such floods of
tears as to wash holes in the rocks. No Jew is suf-
fered to approach this fiacred cave ; and, it is with
great difficulty that Christians, here called Nazareens,
can obtain this favour. It is situated in a small hill
or eminence within the town itself, and to which you
* This was in 1737. The pashalic of Sidon and that of Acre are
the same, and Saphct is included in it.
THE HOLY LAND. 337
ascend by steps terminating in a small garden planted
with trees, under whose shadow is a Turkish oratory.
Here are also several sepulchres; and, in the front of
the oratory, is a cave hewn out of the rock, containing
eleven or twelve grottoes, situated in two rows over
each other, and in which, as they pretend, Jacob and
his family lived. But that belonging to Jacob him-
self, is as large again as any of the others. We also
saw here a large tomb, covered with silks of several
colours, and containing, according to the Turks, the
body of Judah. The whole is inclosed with a wall,
and near it, in a small house, lives a Turkish san-
ton.”
There can be little doubt that these grottoes are
sepulchral, and that they are of high antiquity, al-
though it is impossible now to ascertain who were
the original tenants or proprietors. — “ The next
place,” continue the same travellers, “ that engaged
our attention, was the citadel, which is the greatest
object of curiosity in Saphet, and generally considered
as one of the most ancient structures remaining in
this country ; though, at present, it is in so ruinous
a condition, that its ancient figure can scarcely be
determined. It stands on the summit of a mountain
round which the city is built, and was formerly a
very strong fortification ; as sufficiently appears from
the multitude of ruins and the largeness of its circuit,
which extends near a mile and a half. In order to
form some idea of this fortification in its present
state, imagine a lofty mountain, and on its summit
a round castle with walls of an incredible thickness,
with a corridor or covered passage extending round
the walls, and ascended by a winding staircase. The
thickness of the wall and the corridor together was
twenty paces. The whole was of hewn stone, and some
338 PALESTINE ; OR,
of the stones are eight or nine spans in length. The
inner part of the castle was in some measure entire,
and consisted of an hexagonical room, the terrace
roof of which is supported by six arches, and lighted
from an opening in the roof. Near this castle we
also saw the ruins of several cisterns and other build-
ings, but now hardly distinguishable. This castle
was anciently surrounded with stupendous works, as
appears from the remains of two moats lined with
free-stone, several fragments of walls, bulwarks,
towers, &c., all very solid and strongly built, and
below theſe moats, other massive works having corri-
dors round them in the same manner as the castle :
so that any person, on surveying these fortifications,
may wonder how so strong a fortress could ever be
taken. Tradition tells us, that the castle of Saphet
was taken by stratagem, a number of camels being
sent, as the besieged imagined, with provision, but
which were in reality loaded with soldiers.
“But what best merits the greatest attention of
the traveller, is a large structure of free-stone in the
form of a cupola or dome. The stones, which are
almost white, are of astonishing magnitude, some
being twelve spans in length, and five in thickness.
The inside is full of niches for placing statues, and
near each is a small cell. An open colonnade extends
quite round the building, and, like the rest of the
structure, is very massive and compact. We ascended
to the top of the dome, and there found some traces
of another building which had been erected on it.
From here we had the finest prospect that can be
imagined, extending over the city of Saphet and the
circumjacent places, which are very numerous, all
the sides of the mountains being full of villages, and
hamlets, supposed once to have made a part of the
THE HOLY LAND}, 339
sity of Saphet, which is at present almost in ruins
and every where without walls. But what greatly
increases the beauty of the prospect, is, that the
adjacent country is every where well cultivated.
Towards the south is a most enchanting prospect over
the Lake of Tiberias. We even imagined we could
here see the extremity of it, and distinguish the place
where the Jordan issues from it ; we had also a
sight of Mount Tabor, the mountains of Carmel and
Lebanon, together with the large plain of Esdraelon,
the prospect being terminated with the mountains
which bound that plain. But, if the prospect over
the Lake of Tiberias be pleasant, it is also very
illusive : the water appears not to be a mile distant ;
but a traveller will find it difficult to reach the banks
in four hours. There is the same deceptio visits with
regard to the village called Hattin (Hottein), situated
between Saphet and Mount Tabor, and where is
shewn with great confidence the grave of Moses's
father-in-law." It appears to be hardly a stone's cast.
and yet the real distance is three long hours.
“In our descent from the castle, we saw ruins in
almost every place, and the vestiges of the labour of
some who had been seeking for treasures. We also
saw that this part of the mountain was covered with
vineyards, producing a very beautiful, delicious grape ;
and accordingly, the wine of Saphet is good, but
would be excellent, did the Jews, who are the makers
of it, understand their business. The air of Saphet,
from its high situation, is very pure and healthy,
and at the same time so fresh and cool, that the
heats, which, during the summer, are very great in
the adjacent country, are here hardly felt, a gentle
breeze continually refreshing the air. And this was
the reason why anciently the royal children were
340 PALESTINE ; OR,
often sent from Damascus hither, especially in sum-
mer, or when indisposed. The fruits also are remark-
ably good, especially the grapes and figs. Here are
also great numbers of lemon-trees; for, at the foot
of the mountains are several fertile valleys laid out
into gardens ; and the whole country is naturally
fertile, and abounds with springs. Here is also a
large aqueduct, which conveys the rain water from
one place to another.”
Saphet had, at that period, no Christian families,
which is mentioned by these travellers as remarkable.
There were a few Moors, but of Jews great numbers;
and they were assured that, about a century before,
the number of Jews settled here was not less than
12,000. The town was now no more than a village
in the midst of ruins. “Were it not,” they say,
“for the passionate desire of the Jews for ending
their days here, it would long since have been utterly
forsaken. For it has been so often taken and retaken
by Christians and Mahommedans, that it now appears
only as one confused heap, having nothing venerable
in it, except its name, situation, and a few ruined
structures. The Jews are indeed possessed with an
irresistible desire, or rather frenzy, for dying in this
place, relinquishing every thing for this. They ex-
press a high veneration for Jerusalem and Hebron,
but not to be compared with this ; which they found
on the following reasons. First : a great number of
their most celebrated rabbins and other holy men
have died, and lie buried here, whose sepulchres they
visit with the greatest devotion; particularly those
of the rabbins, Simon Ben Juchan, author of the
Zohar; Hillel, writer of the Thana on the Gamara;
Samai Hagadol ; and Jehuda Bar Elei, who also
wrote on the Gamara. Secondly : they are persuaded
THE HOLY LAND. 341
by their rabbins, that the Messiah, who is to be born
in Galilee, will make Saphet the capital of his new
kingdom to be erected here on earth, and that those
who shall dwell there in those glorious times, may
expect very singular favours from him. In short,
the heads of their rabbins are filled with such a heap
of reveries and fantastical visions, that the poor Jews,
who adopt the notions of their teachers, seem to have
abandoned all reason. They still expect the Messiah,
though it is now above seventeen hundred years since
they crucified him, and all the prophecies relating to
him have been accomplished. And this is the reason
that they are always at a loss for an answer, when
closely pressed, with regard to these prophecies; so
that their devotions are mere superstition, prompting
them to prefer this place to another, though they
live in the greatest misery, merely to leave their
remains in Saphet. The Turks are not backward to
take advantage of this superstitious notion of the
Jews; for, first, they make them dearly purchase
the favour of living at Saphet, and, by a variety of
oppressions, fines, and the like unjust practices,
squeeze them to such a degree, that they may be said
to pay for the very air they breathe. And if any,
through extreme poverty, are obliged to retire, the
pasha is no loser, as his quota must be made up by
the others. It is sometimes pretended that he carried
considerable treasures away with him : and the pasha
immediately demands, in the name of the Grand
Signior, that the treasures be delivered up ; he settles
the sum at his pleasure, and forces these miserable
people to pay it, who here lead the poorest and most 4.
deplorable life that can be conceived. Their onlv
consolation is, their having synagogues, of which,
when we visited Saphet, there were seven, though
342 PALESTINE ; OR,
formerly they amounted to thirty or more; and that
they are at liberty to pray in them, and attend to
the visionary harangues of their rabbins. They,
however, send from Saphet some of their rabbins of
the greatest learning and integrity, to Constantinople,
Smyrna, and other trading cities of the Ottoman
empire where wealthy Jews reside ; and some of them
even visit Germany, Holland, England, and other
places not subject to the Inquisition ; collecting by
this means considerable sums, to be distributed among
the Jews at Jerusalem, Hebron, and Saphet, though
the greatest share always falls to the latter." They
have still here a printing-house and a kind of Univer-
sity, where the Jewish youths are instructed in their
learning, which consists wholly in the Hebrew lan-
guage and understanding the Talmud. The Jews
here are descended from the tribe of Judah, but their
ancestors are natives of Spain, and accordingly, they
all speak the Spanish language perfectly well.”
To the above-mentioned reasons for venerating this
favoured site, the inhabitants are stated to add another,
which, if it rested on any authentic tradition, would
sufficiently explain, without the help of Jacob’s cave
or any other legend, the ancient fame and sanctity
attaching to it. They pretend that it was the birth-
place of Queen Esther. It makes somewhat against
this claim, however, that the daughter of Abihail was
of the tribe of Benjamin, and probably born within
the kingdom of Judah, as her uncle was among those
who had been carried away captive by the King of
Babylon from Jerusalem. The Jews of Saphet stated,
* Tiberias is not mentioned : and, at this period, few Jews e-
sided there. The account in other rospects exactly agrees with the
statement of Burckhardt, given in the description of Tabaria, and
serves to corroborate its truth.
THE HOLY LANI). 343
that this is the town called in the book of Joshua,
Orinah. No mention is made of Saphet in the English
Bible; but, in the apocryphal book of Tobit, accord-
ing to the Vulgate, Tobias is said to be “ of the tribe
and city of Naphthali, in the upper parts of Galilee,
beyond the road that leads to the west, having on the
left the city of Saphet.” (Tobit i. 1.) The city of
Naphthali was a mile to the south of it. Since then,
its name appears only in the annals of the Crusades.
It was doomed, however, to suffer severely from the
French invasion. In 1799, the French had occupied
Szaffad with a garrison of four hundred men, their
outposts being advanced as far as the bridge of Beni
Yacoub. After their retreat from Akka (Acre),
the Turks wreaked their vengeance on the Jews,
whose quarter of the town they completely sacked.
The castle, Burckhardt says, appears to have under-
gone a thorough repair in the course of the last cen-
tury. There is also, he says, another but smaller
castle, of modern date, with half-ruined walls, at the
foot of the hill. Captain Mangles was struck with
the extreme beauty of the situation. The approach
from the north, he describes as very fine: the country
abounds in olives, vines, and almond-trees, which
were them (May 26) in blossom. He represents the
castle as occupying a small hill standing by itself, and
the town as appearing to consist of four distinct vil-
lages at the foot of it. It must have increased con-
siderably in extent, if this be correct, since the middle
of the last century.* It is only within that period
* Volney attributes the decline of Saphet to the earthquake of
759. “ The Jews,” he says, “who believe that the Messiah will
establish the seat of his empire at Safad, had formed an affection
for this place, and had asºcimbled here to the number of fifty or sixty
344 PALESTINE ; OR,
that it has received a proportion of Christians. The
Jews do not seem to have become much more nume-
rous, owing, perhaps, to the extreme intolerance of
the Turks, added to the superior advantages and equal
sanctity of Tabaria.
From Szaffad, the road ascends, passing over the
summit of Djebel Szaffad, which Burckhardt states
to be a southern branch of the Djebel el Sheikh or
Antilibanus. This chain begins on the N.W. side of
Lake Houle. The whole is calcareous, with very
little, basalt or tufwacke. After passing the highest
point, the road descends through a narrow valley
called Akabet Feraein, and passes by the spring of
Feraein. On the right, the traveller passes the village
Feraab. At the foot of the mountain is a plain called
Ard Aaseifera, a small part of which is cultivated by
the inhabitants of Szaffad; there are several springs
in it. From this plain the road descends the western
banks of the valley of the Jordan, to Djissy (or Djeser)
Beni Yakoub, which Burckhardt makes two hours and
three quarters from the summit of Djebel Szaffad. This
bridge connects the pashalics of Damascus and Acre ;
and here the Pasha of Damascus keeps a few men,
chiefly for the purpose of collecting the ghaffer, or toll,
paid by all Christians who cross it. The ordinary
toll is about nine-pence a head, but the pilgrims who
families. But the earthquake of 1759 destroyed all ; and Safad,
looked upon by the Turks with a jealous eye, (regardé de mauvais
oil) is now but a village almost deserted.” It was the cradle of the
power of the celebrated Sheikh Daher, mentioned at p. 271, of
hom the French traveller has given so interesting an account.
§rom 1750 to 1776, he commanded the greater part of the pashalic
of Acre, assuming the title of “Sheikh of Acre, prince of princes,
commander of Nazareth, Tiberias, and Saphet, and sheikh of all
Galilee.” Diezzar Pasha succeeded him as Pasha of Acre.
TTHE HOLY LAND. 345
pass here on their way to Jerusalem, before Easter,
pay seven shillings. The river is here about thirty-
five paces in width. On the west side is a guard-
house belonging to the Pasha of Acre. On the other
side is a khan much frequented by travellers, which
was almost entirely demolished when the French
invaded Syria. It encloses a spring, and in the middle
of it are ruins of an ancient square building, con-
structed (Burckhardt says) of basalt, with which the
mountains abound, and having columns in its four
angles. This may possibly be the remains of a fortress
built near this spot by Baldwin, fourth king of Jeru-
salem. The bridge itself is of a solid construction,
with four arches.” Its name is of course said to com-
memorate the passage of the patriarch Jacob, on his
return from Padan-Aram. The legend does not, in-
deed, as might be expected, attribute the construction
of it to his architectural skill. If the name, however,
be correctly given, it signifies “the bridge of the sons
of Jacob ;” referring, probably, to some Arab tribe
who occupied this district. Thus, there are the tribes
of Beni Szakher, Béni Obeid, Beni Djohma, &c. A
short mile below the bridge, Pococke mentions an
oblong mount, apparently artificial, round the summit
of which are the foundations of a strong wall. “At
the south end, and on the east side, I saw the remains
of two very handsome gates of hewn stone, with
round turrets at the corners. At the north end,
there is a great heap of ruins, probably of a castle.
The whole is about half a mile in circumference.
There are some signs of suburbs to the south, on a
lower ground, which seems to have been fortified.
The place is now Kaisar-Aterah, or Geser-Aterah, and
* According to Burckhardt; Pococke says, three arches.
346 PALl:STINE ; OR,
it seems to have been an improvement of the Romans.
A mile above the bridge, there is a mineral water,
which seemed to be of sulphur and iron : it is walled
in, as if it had been formerly frequented. About half
way between this place and the Lake Samachomitis,
is a little hill with ruins on it, which they now call
the town of Jacob.” ”
From Djeser Beni Yakoub, Pococke makes it but
a mile and a half (Burckhardt about three quarters
of an honr) to this lake, which is called in the Scrip-
tures “ the waters of Merom,” and now bears the
name of Bahr-el-Howly (Lake Julias). According to
Josephus, this lake was seven miles long ; but it is
not, our modern authorities state, above two miles
broad, except at the north end, where it may be about
four. The banks are very low, the hills not approach-
ing it in any part. It is, however, on a level consi-
derably higher than Lake Tabaria. The south-west
shore bears the name of Melaha, from the ground
being covered with a saline crust. The fisheries of
the lake are rented of the Mutsellim of Szaffad, by
some fishermen of that town. It is inhabited, Burck-
hardt says, only on the eastern borders, where we find
the villages Eddei, and Esseira, and between them a
ruined place called Kherbet Eddaherye. “ The
waters are muddy, and esteemed unwholesome, having
something of the nature of the waters of a morass,
* Pococke's Travels, book i. chap. 18. Dr. Richardson mentions
another small lake, between this and Lake Tabaria, a little below
Jacob's Bridge, which, “ at first sight, appeared to be a continu-
ation of the Lake of Gennesareth ; but, when we obtained a view
of it from higher ground, we were satisfied,” he says, “that it was
not. In some of the maps, it is marked as the Lake Semechomitis
of Josephus, and the description is in some respects applicable to
it; but then it must not be considered as synonymous with the
Balū’-el-Hotlya.”
THE HOLY LAND. 347
which is partly caused by their stopping the brooks
on the west side in order to water the country, so
that the water passes through the earth into this
lake; it is also in some measure owing to the mud-
diness of its bed. After the snows are melted, and
the waters fallen, it is only a marsh through which
the Jordan runs. The waters, by passing through
the rocky bed towards the sea of Tiberias, settle,
purify, and become very wholesome.” Such is Po-
cocke’s account. Seetzen says, that its shores are
frequented by a great number of wild boars, who
conceal themselves in the rushes and reeds which
surround it. Captain Mangles describes the plain
on the north as literally covered with wild geese,
ducks, widgeon, snipe, and other water-fowl of every
description. He found the country beyond the lake
full of marshes and swamps, so as to endanger in
some instances the horses, and intersected with nume-
I'OuS StreamS.
Between three and four hours from Jacob's Bridge,
the route taken by Dr. Richardson led to a mill and
soap-manufactory, situated at the source of a large
stream, nearly as broad, but not so deep, as the
Jordan : it is called Geersh. The houses of the
village here were observed to be “pavilion-roofed, not
flat, as in Egypt and Palestine : the inhabitants
seemed a licentious, disorderly people.” About a mile
further, through rich cultivated fields, they passed the
top of another large stream, and pitched their tents
on a sloping bank near the village of Yallahe, the
second might after leaving Nazareth. “This seemed,”
he says, “ to be only a temporary village. The
houses were constructed of bundles of reeds tied
together; and it was probably only a summer resi-
348 PALESTINE ; OR,
dence, for, during the rainy season, the greater
part of the plain would be inundated. Fine herds
of black cattle were feeding around.” The next
day, they proceeded along the edge of a watery plain,
intersected with numberless ditches and streamlets,
and overrun with gigantic thistles, which reached
to their saddles, and annoyed them excessively. The
common track avoids them. High mountains here
bound the vale of the Jordan on either side, while
, “ the loftier Busia unites them at its termination,
looking from his throne, the Snow-crowned monarch
of the vale.”
Having cleared the plain, they got upon higher
ground, and came to another village of reed-huts,
like Yallahe. A little higher up, they crossed a stone
bridge of five arches, thrown over a considerable
river, which brawls its way over a rough and stony
bed, down to Lake Houle. A well-cut stone, bearing
an Arabic inscription, which had belonged to the
bridge, lay on the bank. After crossing the bridge,
they descended in a southerly direction, crossed
another stream, and came to a mount named Til-el-
Kathre. From the top of this delightful elevation,
to which they ascended by a well-formed road, they
enjoyed an extensive view of the whole of the Bahr-
el-Hoolya, spreading along its base towards the south,
with the meadowy plaim intersected by the mountain
rivulets, and the mountains by which it is bounded.
Djebel Sheikh, capped with snow, was seen over-
topping the whole range on the north. The traces
of former improvement shewed that art had once lent
its aid to improve the natural capabilities of this
situation. Four stone huts, flat-roofed, were now all
that occupied the mound ; the winder residence of
THE HOLY LAND. 349
some native families who were then enjoying them-
selves in their tents. Hard by the stream which
flows at the foot, was a sheikh's tomb, under the
shade of a stately oak, whose branches were hung
with votive rags and strings; and some lately-burned
ashes lay on the tomb itself. A grove of venerable
oaks here yields the traveller a most welcome shade.
He is still within the pashalic of Acre.
The route taken by Dr. Richardson now lay west-
ward, through a fine undulating plain, partially cul-
tivated, and enlivened with trees, but almost without
inhabitants. After crossing the mountain range on
the left of the Jordan, they traversed another valley,
and another mountain, from which they descended
into the beautiful vale of Hasbeia. This is the name
of a considerable tract lying to the west of Djebel
Sheikh, chiefly inhabited by Druses. The town of
this name is situated on the top of a high hill, and
may contain, Burckhardt says, seven hundred houses,
half of which belong to Druse families; the rest, with
the exception of about forty Turkish families and
twenty Enzairie, to Christians: these are principally
Greeks, but there are also Catholics and Maronites.
The inhabitants make cotton cloth for shirts and
gowns, and have a few dyeing-houses. The chief
production of the soil is olives. The chief of the
town is an emir of the Druses, dependent both on the
Emir Beshir and the Pasha of Damascus. He lives
in a well-built serai, which in time of war might
serve as a castle. “The neighbourhood of Hasbeia,”
Burckhardt states, “ is interesting to the mineralo-
gist. I was told by the Greek priest,” (with whom
he lodged,) “that a metal was found near it, of which
nobody knew the name, nor made any use. Having
PART II. X
350 PALESTINE ; OR,
procured a labourer, I found, after digging in the
wady a few hundred paces to the E. of the village,
several small pieces of a metallic substance, which I
took to be a native amalgam of mercury. According
to the description given me, cinnabar is also found
here, but we could discover no specimen of it after
half an hour's digging. The ground all around and
the spring near the village are strongly impregnated
with iron. The rock is sandstone, of a dark red
‘colour.” Seetzen says, “The mountains of the neigh-
bourhood are for the most part calcareous, and in the
bottom of the hills are seen strata of trap. The
object the most remarkable in the mineralogy of the
district, is a mine of asphaltos at the distance of a
league W.S.W. of Hasbeia.” Burckhardt refers to
this “mine,” which, he says, is situated upon the
declivity of a chalky hill in the wady, at one hour
below the village on the west side. He calls it bitu-
men. Judaicum : by the natives it is called hommar,
and the mine, Biar el hommar. The bitumen is found
in large veins at about twenty feet below the surface;
the pits are from six to twelve feet in diameter. The
workmen descend by a rope and wheel, and, in hewing
out the bitumen, they leave columns of that substance
at different intervals as a support to the earth above.
There are upwards of twenty-five of these pits or
wells, but the greater part of them are abandoned, or
overgrown with shrubs. Burchkardt saw only one
that appeared to have been recently worked, and says,
they work only during the summer months. The
Emir possesses the monopoly of the bitumen : he alone
works the pits, and sells the produce to the merchants
of Damascus, Beirout, and Aleppo. It was now at
about twopence halfpenny the pound. Seetzen says,
THE HOLY LAND. 351
that the greater part is transported to Europe, but
that it is used by the natives to secure the vines from
insects. *
What Dr. Richardson calls the Vale of Hasbeia,
is the wady watered by the moiet-Hasbeia, by Seetzen
called the Hasberia, the principal source of which is
a large spring that wells out from under the west
side of Djebel Sheikh, and is said to run into the
Bahr-el-Hoolya. The banks of the river are covered
with numerous plantations of mulberry-trees, well
cut and watered, and in the highest order; and
throughout the vale, the silk-worm is “ successfully
cultivated.”
The traveller has now entered the pashalic of Da-
mascus; but the chief power belongs to the prince
of the Druses, and there are few Turks in the country.
A stony and barren track succeeds, hilly, with
patches of cultivation and but thinly peopled; the soil
limestone and a large-grained conglomerate. On the
top of a hill to the right, stands the Christian village
of Reshia. About three quarters of an hour further,
on the left, the village of Firkook, separated from the
road by a deep ravine, through which flows a rivulet.
The houses are high, and have a comfortable appear-
ance, rising in terraces on the slope of the hill.
“From Firkook,” continues Dr. Richardson, “ the
scenery continued of nearly the same description, —
ragged columnar masses of rock, mixed with the
lugubrious cypress and dwarf cedar, all the way to
* Burckhardt enumerates the following villages as belonging
to the territory of Hasbeia. Ain Sharafe, El Kefeir, Ain Annia,
Shoueia, Ain Tinte, El Kankabe, El Heberie, Rasheyat-el-Fukhar,
Ferdis, Khereibe, El Merie, Shiba, Banias, Ain Fid, Zoura, Ain
Kamed Banias, Djoubeta, Fershouba, Kefaer Hamam, El Waesh-
slal, El Zouve.
352 PALESTINE ; or,
Rahlee, which is four miles from Reshia. * Here we
found the ruins of an ancient temple; a small edifice
built of large stones, and partially ornamented with
sculpture, apparently of Roman workmanship, and
much disintegrated. On the opposite of the road,
there are many stone pots, and some remarkably fine
walnut-trees. Higher up the bank are the remains of
another edifice, which is called the palace.” They
could obtain no account of the history of this place.
About two hours further, descending a steep hill,
they issued from the mountain defiles upon a stony,
uncultivated plain. Three more hours brought them
to Katon, a substantial village built with stone, and
containing many houses of two and three stories.
. Beyond this, the soil improves. The plain is remark-
ably flat, extensive, and intersected in all directions
by small streams. Not an enclosure is to be seen;
but it was covered at this time with crops of wheat
and barley, beyond which was seen a wood. The road
is a narrow, regular, well-worn track, resembling a
cross-road in this country. Five hours from Katon, it
* Seetzen noticed ruins of a Roman temple, consisting of a
single column of the peristyle of the Ionic order, of the best
execution, at a village called Asha, inhabited by Druses and
Greek Christians, at about a day's journey from Rasheia. The
latter village he states to be the residence of an emir, whose au-
thority extends over twenty other villages ; it is situated on the
steep declivity of a mountain, about two days from Damascus.
Płasbeia, he makes five leagues to the south of Rasheia, and says,
it is somewhat larger, and, like it, situated on the steep descent
of a mountain. Here he alighted at the house of the learned
Greek Bishop of Sūr (Tyre), or Scide (Sidon), to whom he had a
letter of recommendation. The two districts of Iłasheia and
Hasbcia are stated to be the least known of all Syria. — See
“ Brieſ Account of the Countries adjoining the Lake of Tiberias,
&c. by M. Seetzen.” Small 4to. Published for the Palestine A5-
sociation of London.
THE HOLY LAND. 353
leads to another small village, with a large cemetery;
the tombs and houses alike built of burnt brick. An
hour further conducts the traveller to the walls of
Damascus. About a quarter of a mile on this side of
the western gate, is shewn the place where Saul fell
to the earth, smitten with blindness by a light from
heaven. It is on the side of the old road, near the
ruined arch of a bridge, and close by are the tombs of
some devout Christians ; but there is no chapel or
convent built over it. The Empress Helena has not
been here ; and there is nothing to check the indul-
gence of the supposition that, possibly, this may be
about the spot of that memorable transaction.
PAN IAS.
BURCKHARDT, in coming from Damascus, pursued
the more direct route taken by the caravans, which
crosses the Jordan at Jacob's Bridge. Captains Irby
and Mangles left this road at Khan Sasa, and passed
to the westward for Panias, thus striking into a mid-
dle route between the high road to Acre, and that
by Raschia and Hasbeya. The first part of the road
from Sasa, led through a fine plain, watered by a
pretty, winding rivulet, with numerous tributary
streams, and many old ruined mills. It then ascended
over a very rugged and rocky soil, quite destitute
of vegetation, having in some places traces of an
ancient paved way, “ probably the Roman road from
Damascus to Cesarea Philippi.” The higher part of
Djebel Sheikh was seen on the right. The road
became less stony, and the shrubs increased in number,
size, and beauty, as they descended into a very rich
little plain, at the immediate foot of that mountain.
“There is a conspicuous tomb in this valley; and
a rivulet, which appears to take its source at the foot
X 2
354, gº
PALESTINE ; OR, a *
of the mountains, passes along the western side of the
plain in a southerly direction, when its course turns
more to the westward, and rushing, in a very pic-
turesque manner, through a deep chasm, covered by
shrubs of various descriptions, it joins the Jordan at
Panias.”* This is marked in Arrowsmith's chart,
as the real source of the Jordan ; the fountains at
Panias, though by far the most copious, not being the
most distant source. “From this plain,” continues
Captain M., “we ascended, and, after passing a very
small village, saw on our left, close to us, a very
picturesque lake, apparently perfectly circular, of little
more than a mile in circumference, surrounded on all
sides by sloping hills, richly wooded. The singularity
of this lake is, that it has no apparent supply or
discharge ; and its waters appeared perfectly still,
though clear and limpid. A great many wild-fowl
were swimming in it. Josephus mentions it under
the name of Phiala (cup), in allusion to the shape
of the lake. . It was supposed by the ancients to be the
real source of the Jordan. A passage in the Jewish
historian motices, that they threw straw into the lake,
which came out at the apparent source at Panias.i.
* This description seems to answer to the water of Hasbeia
whether it joins the Jordan at Panias, is a question.
+ “ Now Panium is thought to be the fountain of Jordan; but,
in reality, it is carried thither after an occult manner from the
place called Phiala. This place lies as you go up to Trachomitis,
and is 120 furlongs from Cesarea, and is not far out of the road
on the right-hand. And indeed it hath its name of Phiala (vial
3r bowl) very justly, from the roundness of its circumference,
as being round like a wheel; its water continues always up to
its edges, without either sinking or running over ; and this
origin of Jordan was formerly not known. It was discovered
so to be when Philip was Tetrarch of Trachomitis; for he had
chaff thrown into Phiala, and it was found at Panium, where
the ancients thought the fountain-head of the river was, whither
THE HOLY LAND. 355
But this is impossible ; for, to arrive at Panias, its
discharge must pass under the rivulet which Arrow-
smith points out as the true source. On quitting
Phiala, at but a short distance from it, we crossed
a stream, which discharges into the larger one which
we first saw : the latter we followed for a considerable
distance; and then, mounting a hill to the S.W., had
in view the great Saracenic castle near Panias, the
town of that name, and the plain of the Jordan, as
far as the Lake Houle, with the mountains on the
other side of the plain, forming altogether a fine
coup d'oeil. As we descended towards Panias, we
found the country extremely beautiful. Great quan-
it had been, therefore, carried by the waters. . . . Now Jordan's
visible stream arises from this cavern, and divides the marshes and
fens of the Lake Semechonitis; and when it hath run another
120 furlongs, it first passes by the city Julias, and then passes
through the middle of the Lake Gennesareth.”—Jos EPH Us, Wars,
book iii. chap. 10, § 7. M. Seetzen makes the Lake of Phiala two
leagues distant to the east of Panias; and says, it now bears the
name of Birket-el-Ram, under which name it is given in Arrow-
smith's map. But Burckhardt states, that what the Bedouins call
Birket-el-Ram, and the peasants Birket Abou Armeii, is a reser-
voir of water a few hundred paces to the S. of the regular road,
near the foot of Tel Abou Nedy: it is, he says, about 120 paces in
circumference, and is supplied by two springs which are never dry,
one of which is in the bottom of a deep well in the midst of the
Birket. Just by this reservoir are the ruins of an ancient town,
about a quarter of an hour in circuit, of which nothing remains
but large heaps of stones. Five minutes further is another Birket,
which is filled by rain-water only. The neighbourhood of these
reservoirs is covered with a forest of short oaks. The road now
begins to descend gently ; and an hour and a half further, just by
the road on the left, is “a large pond,” about 200 paces in circum-
ference, called Birket Nefah or Tefah : it was said to contain a
spring, but some denied it. “From which I inferred,” says
Burckhardt, “ that the water never dries up completely. I take
this to be the Lake Phiala, as there is no other lake or pond in the
neighbourhood."—Travels in Syria, p. 314,
356 - PALESTINE ; or,
tities of wild flowers, and a variety of shrubs just
budding, together with the richness of the verdure,
grass, corn, and beams, shewed us all at once the
beauties of spring (Feb. 24), and conducted us into a
climate quite different to that of Damascus. In the
evening, we entered Panias, crossing a causeway con-
structed over the rivulet, which flows from the foot of
Djebel Sheikh. The river here rushes over great
rocks in a very picturesque manner, its banks being
Covered with shrubs and the ruins of the ancient
walls.”
Panias, afterwards called Cesarea Philippi, has re-
sumed its ancient name. The present town of Banias
is small. Seetzen describes it as a little hamlet of
about twenty miserable huts, inhabited by Mahom-
medans; but Burckhardt says, it contains about 150
houses, inhabited mostly by Turks : there are also
Greeks, Druses, and Enzairies. It belongs to Hasbeia,
whose emir nominates the sheikh. It is situated at
the foot of the mountain called Djebel Heish. To
the N.E. of the village, is the source of the river of
Banias, which flows under a well-built bridge on the
north side of the village, near which are some remains
of the ancient town. The ground it now occupies is
of a triangular form, enclosed by the river on one side,
a rivulet on the other, and the mountain at the back.
The “ Castle of Banias " is situated on the summit of
a lofty mountain : it was built, Seetzen says, without
giving his authority, in the time of the caliphs.
Burckhardt says, it seems to have been erected during
the period of the Crusades; he saw no inscriptions,
but was afterwards told that there are several, both in
Arabic and in Frank (Greek or Latin). The moun-
tain on which it stands, forming part of the Djebel
THE HOLY LAN ID. 357
Heish, is an hour and a quarter from Banias, bearing
from it E. by S. “It is now completely in ruins, but
was once a strong fortress. Its whole circumference
is twenty-five minutes. It is surrounded with a wall
ten feet thick, flanked with numerous round towers,
built with equal blocks of stone, each about two feet
square. The keep, or citadel, seems to have been
on the highest summit on the eastern side, where the
walls are stronger than on the other side. On the
western side, within the precincts of the castle, are
ruins of many private habitations. At both the
western corners, runs a succession of dark, strongly-
built, low apartments, like cells, vaulted, and with small,
narrow, loop-holes, as if for musquetry. On this side
also is a well, more than twenty feet square, walled in,
with a vaulted roof at least twenty-five feet high.
The well was, even in this dry season, full of water :
there are three others in the castle. It has but one
gate, on the south side. In winter time, the shep-
herds of the Felahs of the Heish, who encamp upon
the mountain, pass the night in the castle with their
cattle.” The view from hence is described as mag-
nificent. The wady at its S.E. foot is called Wady
Kyb ; that on its western side, Wady-el-Kashabe ;
and that “on the other side of the latter,” (the equi-
vocal expression is Burckhardt’s,) Wady-el-Asal.
Where was the temple erected by Herod the Great
in honour of Augustus, out of gratitude to the Em-
peror for having put him in possession of Trachonitis 2
Seetzen remarks, that the circuit of the ancient walls
of the city is easily distinguishable, but that no traces
remain of this magnificent edifice. Burckhardt no-
ticed some remains of the ancient town near the
bridge, but says, that the principal part seems to
have been on the opposite side of the river, where
-
358 PALESTINE ; OR,
the ruins extend for a quarter of an hour beyond the
bridge. No walls remain ; but great quantities of
stones and architectural fragments are scattered about.
He saw here one entire column of small dimensions,
and in the village, on the left side of the river, a
granite column one foot and a half in diameter. On
the south side of the village are the ruins of a strong
castle, which, from its appearance and mode of con.
struction, may, he conjectures, be of the same age
as the castle on the mountain. It is surrounded with
a broad ditch, within which was a wall: several towers
are still standing. A very solid bridge, which crosses
the winter torrent Wady-el-Kyd, leads to the entrance
of the castle, over which is an Arabic inscription,
with a date coinciding with the era of the Crusades.
There are five or six granite columns built into the
walls of the gateway. There can be ne doubt that
these formed part of some ancient edifice, and possibly
of the temple in question. The whole mountain,
however, had the name of Panium; and Dr. Richard-
son is disposed to imagine, that the Khallat-el-Banias
on the mountain may be built on the site of the
temple. The commanding situation, overlooking the
whole plain, may be thought to have recommended it
to Herod, as comporting with the magnificence of his
conceptions; and it is remarkable, that, distant as it is
from the town, it should preserve the name of the
Castle of Banias. The determination of this point
must be left to future travellers.
The city of Panias owed its Roman name, and
much of its consequence and architectural decoration,
to Herod Philip the Tetrarch, who called it Cesarea
in honour of Tiberius Caesar : it received the adjunct
of his own name to ditinguish it from Cesarea of
Palestine. It was indebted for further improvements
*
THE HO I, Y LAN I}, 359
to the royal liberality of Agrippa.” The neighbour-
hood is very beautiful, richly wooded, and abounding
with game. The “apparent source of the Jordan,”
flows from under a cave at the foot of a precipice, in
the perpendicular sides of which are several niches,
adorned with pilasters, having under them Greek
inscriptions. Upon the top of the rock, to the left
of these, is a mosque dedicated to Nebbi Khouder,
called by the Christians Mar Georgius, which is a
place of devotion for Mahommedan strangers passing
this way. Seetzen says: “ The copious source of the
River of Banias rises near a remarkable grotto in the
rock, on the declivity of which I copied some ancient
Greek inscriptions, dedicated to Pan and the Nymphs
of the Fountain. The ancients gave the name of
“Source of the Jordan’ to the spring from which the
Banias rises; and its beauty might entitle it to that
name. But, in fact, it appears, that the preference is
due to the spring of the river Hasberia, which rises
half a league to the west of Hasbeia, and which forms
the largest branch of the Jordan. The spring of Tel-
el-Kadi, which the natives take for the source of the
Jordan, is that which least merits the name.”
Pococke observes, that St. Jerome mentions a vil-
lage called Dan, four miles from this site. Burckhardt
states, that an hour and a quarter to the N.E. of
Banias, is situated “ the source of the Jordan, or,
as it is here called, Dhan,” in the plain, near the hill
called Tel-el-Kadi—the spring to which Seetzen re-
fers ; and the distance agrees with the place mentioned
by Jerome. There are, we are told, two springs near
each other, one smaller than the other, whose waters
* “As for Panium itself, its matural beauty had been itnproved
by the royal liberality of Agrippa, and adormed at his expense.”—
Joseph. Wars, book iii. chap. 10.
360 PALESTINE ; OR,
unite immediately below : the larger source imme-
diately forms a river twelve or fifteen yards across,
which rushes rapidly over a stony bed into the lower
plain. Both sources are on level ground, among rocks
of tufwacke. There are no ruins of any kind near
the springs ; but the hill over them seems to have
been built upon, though nothing now is visible. At a
quarter of an hour to the N. of the spring, are ruins
of ancient habitations, built of the black tufwacke, the
principal rock found in the plain. The few houses at
present inhabited on that spot, are called Emkeil.
“I was told,” adds Burckhardt, “ that the ancient
name of the River of Banias was Djour, which,
added to the name of Dhan, made Jourdan. The
more correct etymology is, probably, Or Dhan,—in
Hebrew, the River of Dhan. Lower down, between
the Houle and the Lake Tabaria, it is called Orden
by the inhabitants. To the southward of the Lake of
Tabaria, it bears the name of Sherya, till it falls into
the Dead Sea.”
The whole of this statement, there is reason to
suspect, rests upon hearsay; and when it is recollected
that Burckhardt's authorities in this quarter were,
for the most part, Greek priests, thère is the more
necessity for caution in receiving that part of it which
relates to the ancient names. That the Banias was
anciently called the Djour, is a mere legend ; and as
little is it to be believed, that the river, below Lake
Houle, is called the Orden, unless by the Christians.
It is, however, to this legendary opinion respecting
the source of the Jordan, that Milton may be thought
to refer, when he says,
** Here the double-founted stream,
Jordan, true limit eastward.” ”
* Par Lost, book xii. line 144.
'I' HE HOLY F., A N D. 361
The same description would, nevertheless, apply to it,
as formed by the junction of the waters of Hasbeia
and Banias; and Seetzen's remark is deserving of
attention, that this third source of Tel-el-Kadi least
merits the name of the source of the Jordan.
The name Panias is of classic origin, and is Sup-
posed to be derived from the worship of Pan. The
cavern and IJzvetov, or sanctuary of Pan, are described
by Josephus. The niche in the cavern probably con-
tained a statue of the god. In the middle niche
in the rock, the base of a statue is still visible.
Round the source of the river are a number of hewn
stones, which appear to have belonged to some ancient
edifice. . Some have supposed this place to be the Dan
of the Scriptures, on the slender ground of the faint
resemblance of the names. The hill is considered
as the Mount Hermon of the Old Testament, that
being mentioned as the northern boundary of the
Land of Israel on the other side of Jordan, as over-
looking the Valley of Lebanon, and as a boundary
of the country of the Hivites in Mount Lebanon,
which extended from Baal-Hermon to Hamath.* If
so, this would seem to be “the Valley of Lebanon,”
and Panias might claim to be considered as the Baal-
Gad which was under Mount Hermon.-- The name
of Baal, thus connected both with the mountain and
the city, would seem to refer to the heathen worship
that was carried on here. It was the same deity,
apparently, that gave his name to Baalbec. Without
attempting to trace any connexion between the attri-
butes of the Syrian Baal and the classic Pan, it
would not be a violent conjecture, that the worship of
the one migat succeed the adoration of the other
* Josh. xi, 17; xiii, l l ; Judges iii. 3. + Josh. xiii. 5.
P.A. RT I I, Y
362 PALESTINE ; OR,
deity. The mountain, as well as the city, would
undergo a correspondent change of name ; and thus,
Baal-Hermon would become Panium, and Baal-Gad,
Panias. In like manner, Baal-Bek was changed —
we might say, translated into Heliopolis. A sacred
fountain in Greece almost invariably points out the
site of an ancient temple ; and the usual characteris-
tics of these agiasmata, or holy fountains, are, a
romantic landscape, and the neighbourhood of a cavern
or grove. Here we have every circumstance united,
that superstition required to give sacredness to the
place.
But, in reference to the ancient names, there is a
remarkable passage in Josephus, which deserves con-
sideration. The marshes of Lake Semechonitis reach,
he says, “as far as the place Daphne, which, in other
respects, is a delicious place, and hath such fountains
as supply water to what is called Little Jordan, under
the temple of the golden calf, where it is sent into
Great Jordan.”* Reland supposes that the text is cor-
rupted, and that, instead of Daphne in this place, we
should read Dan. If not, we may conclude that the
ancient Dan was afterwards called Daphne. The Little
Jordan is, most probably, the Banias of Burckhardt,
which, at the distance of an hour and a half in the
plain below, falls into what Seetzen denominates the
Hasbeia, – the Moiet Hasbeia, which is the larger
branch. Near the confluence of these streams, we must
look for the Dam of the Scripture, and the exact situa-
tion of one of Jeroboam’s golden calves. # Panias,
supposed by the ancients to be the source of the Jordan,
can hardly be the place referred to by Josephus. It
Wars, book iv, chap. 1.
^ee Judges xviii. 29. 1 Kings xii. 29.
* THE HO I,Y LAND. 363
must, therefore, be below it ; and we are strongly
inclined to believe, that the sequestered mound and
the grove of venerable oaks, described by Dr. Richard-
son in such glowing language, will be found to answer
most completely to the Daphne of Josephus,” and
the Dan of Scripture, where once stood the temple of
the golden calf. It must be near this delicious spot,
that the river of Hasbeia meets with the Banias or
Little Jordan ; and the marshes of Semachonitis
extend almost to the base of the mount. It is ob-
servable also, that the plain changes its name nearly
about the same place, from Ard Houle to Ard Banias;
and it is by the confluence of the streams here, that
the river is formed, which Josephus distinguishes as
the Great Jordan.
CONCLUDING REMARKS.
HAVING now traversed the whole Land of Israel
west of this boundary, from Beersheba to Dan, we
close here our account of Palestine ; preferring, for
the convenience of the arrangement, to include the
districts east of the Jordan, under the general deno-
mination of Syria, which in strictness applies to the
whole country. The parts we have described, however,
are all that are usually comprehended under the term
Holy Land; although, as the scene of Scripture his-
tory, the theatre of miracle and of prophecy, — the
Peninsula of Mount Sinai, the shores of the Idumean
Sea, and the coasts of Asia Minor, might lay claim to
the appellation. But we have now visited the whole
of Palestine, Judea, Samaria, and Galilee — those
. * Lightfoot says, that Riblah, a place on the border of Israel,
is by the Targumists rendered Daphne. They render Number
*! “ and the border shall go down to Daphne.”
364 PAL ESTINE ; OR,
countries which, above all others under the sun, are
interesting to the Christian. And abhorrent alike
from reason and from true piety, as is the superstition
that has grafted itself upon this interest, yet, the
Curiosity which inspires the traveller, in reference
more peculiarly to these scenes, is rational and laud-
able. If Troy and Thebes, if Athens and Rome, are
visited with classic enthusiasm, much more worthy of
awakening the strongest emotions in the mind of a
Christian, must be the country whose history as far
transcends in interest that of every other, as its lite-
rature (if we may apply that term to the divine volume)
excels in sublimity, all the ethics, and philosophy, and
poetry, and eloquence of the heathen world. This
sentiment of interest or of reverence has, indeed,
no necessary connexion with religious principle or
enlightened worship ; for it may actuate alike the
pious and the profligate : and, in the character of the
Greek or Romish pilgrim, it is too generally found in
connexion with an utter destitution of moral principle.
The savage fanaticism of the Crusades was an illus-
tration of this fact on a grand scale ; and the same
spirit that breathed in Peter the Hermit, yet survives;
the same fanaticism in a milder form actuates the
pilgrims who continue to visit the Holy Sepulchre,
with the view of expiating their sins by the per-
formance of so meritorious a penance. The Mussul-
man hadgi, or the Hindoo devotee, differs little in
the true character of his religion, from these misguided
Christians, and as little perhaps in his morals as in
his creed. Only the stocks and stones in which their
respective worship alike terminates, are called by less
holy names. It becomes the Protestant to avoid the
appearance of symbolising with this degrading and
lising idolatry. But were all this mummery
THE HOLY LAND. 365
swept away, and the Holy Land cleared of all the
rubbish brought into it by the Empress Helena, the
holy sepulchre included, more than enough would
remain to repay the Christian traveller, in the durable
monuments of Nature. We know not the spot where
Christ was crucified ; nor can determine the cave in
which, for part of three days, his body was ensepul-
chred; nor is the exact point ascertainable from which
he ascended to heaven. The Scriptures are silent, and
no other authority can supply the information. But
there are the scenes which he looked upon, the
holy mount which once bore the temple, that Mount
Olivet which once overlooked Jerusalem ; – there is
Mount Gerizim overhanging the Valley of Shechem,
and the hill where once stood Samaria ; – there is
Nazareth, within whose secluded vale our Lord so
long awaited the time appointed for his public
ministry, -the plain of Gennesareth and the Sea of
Galilee, – the mountains to which he retired, the
plains in which he wrought his miracles, the waters
which he trod, – and here the Jordan still rolls its
Consecrated waters to the bituminous lake where
Sodom stood.
: 67
APPENDIX. (A.)
NATURAL HISTORY.
It was the Editor's intention to subjoin a fuller
account of the natural productions of Palestine; but
he finds that this would occupy more space than can
be devoted to a subject remotely connected with the
design of the present work. He must content him-
self, therefore, with referring to the sources of infor-
mation.
Dr. Shaw acknowledges that he was in too great
haste, in travelling through the Holy Land, to make
many observations, much less to collect specimens.
He notices, generally, the variety of anemonies, ranun-
culusses, colchicas, fritillaries, and tulips, with which
the plains abound, and the quantity of game of all
kinds; but the only curious animals, he says, that he
had the good fortune to see, were the skinköre, a
species of lizard, and the daman Israel, supposed to
be the sapham * of the Scriptures; an animal of the
size of a rabbit, but in the shortness of its fore-feet, re-
sembling the jerboa.
The notices contained in Hasselquist’s Travels, are
scarcely less meagre. The animals he saw, were only
five sorts of quadrupeds,-the porcupine, the jackall, ºf
the fox, the rock-goat, and the fallow-deer; and fifteen
of birds. His collection of plants is somewhat more
ample, and will be found deserving of attention. It
is remarkable, however, that the pupil of Linnaeus
should have given the bare catalogue, without any re-
gard to botanical arrangement.
blendered “ comey " * “ The fox of Samson.”
368 APPENDIX.
Dr. Clarke's Travels contain some important con-
tributions to the Botany of Palestine; but he also
was in haste, and saw but a very small part of the
Holy Land.
In the Travels of Burckhardt, and of Captains Irby
and Mangles, will be found many scattered notices
peculiarly interesting to the naturalist. But the in-
formation is not precise enough to enable us to refer
the productions alluded to, to their proper place in
a scientific arrangement. The more remarkable of
these will be found mentioned in the body of our
work; and they will supply matter for the more
minute observation of future travellers. At present,
our knowledge both of what may be called the Scrip-
tural, and of the actual or modern Natural History
of Palestine, must be considered as very imperfect.
For remarks on the mandrake, the nature of which
has been a subject of learned dissertation, see Shaw's
Travels, folio, p. 369, and Maundrell's Journey, under
Naplosa. But the amplest account of the animals and
vegetable productions mentioned in the Scriptures, is
that given by the very ingenious author of the Frag-
ments supplementary to Calmet's Dictionary. See the
edition of 1823, vol. iv. part 2, pp. 9–128.
369
APPENDIX.
(B.)
GLOSS ARY OF ARAE, iC WORDS OCCURRING IN THE
GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE.
Abd Servant. e. g. Abd
Allah, servant of God.
Abou. Father.
Ain. Spring. (Eye.)
Ard. Land. District.
Bahr. Lake. River.
Sea.
Belled. Town. Village.
Bem. Son.
Beni. Sons.
Bet. (Bait.) House.
Bir. (Beer.) Well
Birket. Pond. Cistern.
Caphar. (Ghaffer.) Toll.
Tribute.
Caphar. (Heb.) Field.
Camp. Station.
\
Djebel. Mountain.
Djeser. Bridge.
Gala (Khallat.) Castle.
Ghaffer. (Caphar.) Toll,
Tribute.
Iön. Son.
Käfer. (Kafir.) Infidel.
Repha. Rock.
Rhallat. Castle.
Khan. Inn.
Min. Port.
Moye, Moiet. Water.
Nahr. (Same as Bahr.)
Lake. River. Sea.
Om. (Oom.) Mother
Serai. Palace.
Sheikh. Chief.
Tel. Heap.
Tor. High.
Wady Valley Ravine
370
APPENDIX. (C.)
r)ESCRIPTION OF THE GROUND-PLAN of
JERUSALEM.
. Bethlehem Gate.
13.
14.
15.
l6.
. Damascus Gate.
. Herod's or Ephraim
Gate.
. St. Stephen's Gate.
The Golden Gate,
(walled up).
. Gate into El Aksa.
. Dung Gate.
. Zion Gate.
. Armenian Convent
and Garden.
. Castle of the Pisans.
. Pool of Bathsheba.
. House for Female
Pilgrims.
Latin Convent.
Ruins.
Church of the Sepul-
chre. a. The Sepul-
chre. b. Calvary.
Herod's Palace.
|
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
12.
--
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
3] .
Mosque of St. Anne
Pilate’s House.
Pool of Bethesda.
Haram Schereeff. a.
Throne of Solomon.
b. Where Mahomet
is to sit on the
Day of Judgment.
c. Entrance to the
Grotto of Sidn Aisa
Mosque of Omar.
Mosque of El Aksa.
Bazars.
House of Annas.
Jews' Synagogue.
House of Omar Ef-
fendi.
Palace of Caiaphas.
Sepulchre of David.
Tombs.
King's Pool.
Pool of Siloam.
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{1， .. ' /'r/, /, /z/, /，,,，,, w/, /， /， /, , , /， /, /,':','/.
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371
APPENDIX. (D.)
DESIDERATA.
IT has been thought that it might aid future
travellers to throw further light on the topogra-
phy of Palestine, to direct their attention to a few
desiderata.
The sites of the following ancient towns require
to be ascertained : On the coast, Antipatris and Apol-
lonia, between Cesarea and Jaffa ; and Anthedon
(Agrippias), between Gaza and Raphia,-probably at
or near Dair. On the road from Gaza to the ancient
Eleutheropolis, the whole of which is untravelled by
Europeans, Gath, Marissa, Adora, Lachish. Eleu-
theropolis itself, the capital of the Idumeans. See
p. 195. In the same direction probably, about twenty
miles S.W. of Hebron, Beersheba in Simeon. Also,
the ruins at Abdi in the desert, three days' distance
below Hebron. See p. 201. At Hebron the Cave of
Machpelah. Examine also the House of Abraham,
between Sipheer and Hebron. See p. 200. The
whole road from Hebron to the Gulf of Akaba remains
to be explored. Also the route from Hebron to
Rihhah. The bearing and length of the Dead Sea
require to be verified.
At Jerusalem–1. The precise bearings are required
of the Mount of Olives, Bethlehem, &c. 2. The
elevations round the city require to be explored, and
the names ascertained from Jewish or Arab natives :
in particular, the hill on the N.W. called Mount
Gihon, and that on the N. supposed to be Scopo,
where Titus encamped ; by some fixed on as the
site of Calvary. (Nos. 90 and 88 in Dr. Richard-
son's Ichnographical Plan.) Also the Hill of Evil
372 APPENDIX.
Council (Dr. Clarke's Mount Zion), S. of the city;
and the mountain which rises from the bed of the
Kedron on the S.E. 3. The course and distribution
of the aqueduct from Solomon's Pools to Jerusalem,
and the cisterns which supply the present city, are
deserving of investigation. 4. The course of the
Tyropoeon, supposed to be a line drawn transversely
from near the Castle of the Pisans to the Pool of
Siloam (No. 31). 5. The sepulchre of David on Mount
Zion, and the ruins between Mount Zion and the
mosque of Omar. 6. The ravine crossed by the road
to St. John's in the Desert. 7. Ruins of a tower
opposite to Bethlehem gate. 8. Turkish oratory be
yond the cemeteries N. of the city, and near the
Dragon's Pool— query, its history 2 9. The source
and course of the Kedron. 10. The crypta on the
summit of olivet, described by Dr. E. D. Clarke.—An
intelligent Jew would probably be found the best
cicerone.
At Nablous, the Beer-el-Samaria, the Beer-el-
Yakoub, and the Beer-el-Yusef; the ruins on Mount
Gerizim and Mount Ebal; and, between this route
and the Jordan, the site of Bethel. The road from
Nablous to Cesarea might be worth exploring.
In Galilee, the site of Zabulon, of Jotapata, of
Capernaum, and of Dan (query, Daphne 2). Also,
the bearing and extent of the Lake of Tiberias, and
the plains and wadys on its western coast. The
sources of the water of Hasbeia and Tel-el-Kadi, and
their junction with the stream of Panias.
END OF PALESTINE,
THIS BOOK
FORMS PART OF THE
ORIGINAL LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHICAN
BOUGHT IN EUROPE
1838 TO 1839
BY
ASA GRAY

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