near its southern extremity, a mountain of salgem, the continual dissolution of which seems to produce the saltness of this lake. The bitumen so copiously produced is found on its shores, and floating on its surface. Seetzen contradicts the report of no bird being able to fly over its waters, and of there being a peculiar unhealthiness in the air around this sea.

The ancient Samaria is now chiefly comprised in the district of Napolose; and Napolose, the ancient Sichem, is the capital. This district, though mountainous, is well cultivated, and carries on a considerable trade in corn, silk, and olives. The most prominent feature here is Mount Carmel, extending along the Gulf of Acre. During the middle ages this mountain was almost entirely filled with grottoes cut in the rock, the abode of thousands of monks, who took the name of Carmelites. Pococke saw one of these monasteries, in which two or three monks still resided, and a grand excavated saloon forty feet long, twenty wide, and fifteen high, the scene of their general conferences.

North of Samaria, and communicating with Judea by the Jordan, is Galilee, distinguished by its natural beauty and fertility. The plain of, Esdraelon, two days' journey in length, and twenty miles in breadth, is described by Dr. Clarke as one vast meadow, covered with the richest pasture. He considers this as the finest part of all Palestine, though when he passed across it was entirely neglected. Above it rises Mount Tabor, in a conical form, with a plane at the top, commanding a most delightful prospect. The lake of Tiberias, or Gennesareth, is surrounded by lofty and picturesque hills, the sides of which were once covered with towns, now almost deserted.

The Jordan, one of the most important natural features of Palestine, with the lake of Tiberias through which it passes, and that of Asphaltites which it forms by its discharge, divides it completely into two portions. The region beyond this river, though less noticed in history, include many tracks once fertile and flourishing, which had escaped the notice of modern geography, till they were recently explored by Seetzen and Burckhardt. Here are the Hauran and Dschaulan, consisting of a vast plain, not watered by any great river; yet the inhabitants contrive, by collecting the torrents and rain water into ponds, to obtain a sufficient supply for the purposes of agriculture. The rocks are entirely composed of basalt; and the villages, being built on their sides of this material, present a gloomy appearance. The district of El Botthin, the ancient Batanæa, is distinguished by thousands of caverns into which the rocks have been hollowed out. There are still a number of large caves, which receive whole families, with their cattle. Here, and in the Roman district of Decapolis, áre found remains of splendid cities. Those of Dscherrash, the ancient Gerasa, are compared by Seetzen to Balbec and Palmyra. They include several palaces, two superb amphitheatres, and three temples; 200 Corinthian pillars of white marble, still supporting their entablatures, and a much greater number overthrown. The ruins of Ammon, the ancient Philadelphia, one of the VOL. XVI.

principal cities of Decapolis, are also splendid. To the south, upon the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, is found the district of Karak, bleak, barren, and mountainous; the ruins of Rabbath Moab, the ancient capital, attest its former importance.

The Turks occupy all the civil and military posts; while the inhabitants of the eastern enpire, under the name of Greeks, form a very numerous part of the population. The country districts, however, are filled to a great extent with nomadic Arabs. The dress of this people is very simple; it consists of a blue shirt, descending below the knees, the legs and feet being exposed, or covered with the ancient cothurnus or buskin. A cloak of very coarse and heavy camels' hair cloth, decorated with black and white stripes adorns the back: this is of one square piece, with holes for the arms; and a seam down the back. Upon their heads they wear a turban, or dirty rag, like a coarse handkerchief, bound across the temples, one corner of which generally hangs down; and this, by way of distinction, is generally fringed with strings in knots. The Arab women are not much concealed from view. Their bodies are covered with a long blue shift, but their breasts are exposed; and extend to an extraordinary length. Upon their heads they wear a hood, and a handkerchief bound over it across the temples. Just above the right nostril they place a small button, studded with pearl, a piece of glass, or any other glittering substance. Their faces, hands, and arms, are tattooed, and covered with scars; their eyelashes and eyes being painted, or rather dirtied, with some dingy black or blue powder; their lips are dyed of a deep and dusky blue; their teeth jet black; their nails and fingers bright red; their ears are loaded with ponderous rings. Their usual weapons consist of a lance, a poniard, an iron mace, a battle axe, and sometimes a matchlock gun, and the moveables of a whole family seldom exceed a camel's load. They reside always in tents made of goats' hair on the open plain, or on the mountains; men, women, children, and cattle, all lodging together. In their disposition, though grave and sedate, they are said to be amiable, and most hospitable.

Ju

After the conversion of the Roman empire to Christianity, Judea became an object of religious veneration,and the empress Helena repaired hither in pilgrimage, and built various splendid temples. A crowd of pilgrims resorted thither subsequently from every part of the world: the most numerous arriving from the west, over which the church of Rome had fully established its domination. In the commencement, however, of the sixth century, an entire change took place. dea was among the countries first exposed to the invasion of the fanatical followers of Mahomet, and soon fell under their sway. The caliphs were at first induced to encourage pilgrimage, from the gain which it afforded. But, when the Turks poured in from the north, they no longer observed the same courtesy. They profaned the holy places, and, the intelligence of their outrages being conveyed to Europe, roused the religious spirit of the age into those expeditions called the Crusades. All Europe seemed

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common at certain seasons. But it does not appear that there is any thing peculiarly unwholesome in the climate of the neighbouring country. M. de Chateaubriand carried home a bottle of the water to Paris, with a view to ascertain whether the sea-fish of Europe would live in it. A large piece of the asphaltos, from the borders of the lake, is to be seen at the Latin convent. It resembles coal, but is more shining, burns when put on the fire, and emits a sulphureous and extremely offensive smell.

From Bethlehem and the Dead Sea the author proceeded to Jerusalem, the great object and end of his journey. We have no doubt that a man like M. de Chateaubriand, endued with Christian feelings, must have been highly gratified at visiting the spot where the mysteries of our holy religion were performed. But his account differs little from that of other travellers; and the city itself and its society have undergone but little change from the state in which it was two centuries ago, when our plain-spoken countryman, Fynes Moryson, visited it in 1596. All the citizens,' says he, are either tailors, shoe-makers, cooks, or smiths (which smiths make their keys and locks not of iron but of wood), and in general poore, rascall people, mingled of the scum of divers nations; partly Arabians, partly Moores, partly the basest inhabitants of neighbour countries; by which kind of people all the adjoyning territorie is likewise inhabited, which should have no trafficke if the Christian mouasteries were taken away. Finally the inhabitants of Jerusalem, at this day, are as wicked as they were when they crucified our Lord, and as they have been since. Hence it was that Robert duke of Normandy being sicke, and carried into Jerusalem upon the backs of like rascalls, when he met by the way a friend who was then returning into Europe, desiring to know what he would command him to his friends, he earnestly entreated him to tell them that he saw duke Robert carried into heaven upon the backs of divels.'-Moryson's Itinerary, folio, 1617, p. 219. We shall content ourselves with remarking such further passages of M. de Chateaubriand's description as have either a pretension to novelty, or may be otherwise interesting to our readers.

The great objects of curiosity are of course Mount Calvary, the church of the Holy Sepulchre, the convents of Romish monks, who serve as guides and hosts to the Christians visiting Jerusalem, and the great mosque erected on the site of the temple of Solomon. Mount Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre, although formerly at Some little distance from Jerusalem, are now in the very heart of the city, a circumstance that can only be accounted for by the very singular form of the ancient Jerusalem. It was built on two elevations, at a short distance from each other, and covered nearly the whole of their surface, thus forming two separate towns, which were joined together by a comparatively narrow slip of buildings across the valley between, prinupally occupied in ancient times by the palace and temple of Solomon. These buildings, according to an accurate general view of the city, taken by Meyer, about thirty years ago, from the Mount of Olives, and which is now before us,

are in ruins, or their sites totally bare, as well as many other parts of the old town. It is obvious that the two masses of buildings thus connected would form a town somewhat in the form of a horseshoe; and Mount Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre are situated in the valley which was included between the two elevations. But, Jerusalem having for many years been the seat of Christian governments, it is natural to conclude that their veneration for the spots where their redemption had been fulfilled would lead them to fix their residence as near to them as possible. The church which they built over the tomb of their Saviour has also in all ages attracted crowds of pilgrims of every rank, and houses must of course have sprung up for their accommodation; so that upon the whole there are sufficient causes to account for the increase of the town in this particular part, or rather for its removal from the elevations into the valley; for the old town, as we have just observed, has now very large spaces within its circuit either quite bare or covered with ruins.

The church of the Holy Sepulchre is now in ruins, having been burned down the year after M. de Chateaubriand saw it in 1806. Large subscriptions have been raised among the pious Christians of the Levant for its re-erection; although the following account of the priestcraft practised there by the Greek clergy, which, though unknown to M. de Chateaubriand, we have received from an eyewitness of veracity, would certainly induce us to wish that the care of this interesting place were transferred to better hands. On the day of the renewal of the holy fire, as the Greeks call it, the church of the Holy Sepulchre is crowded with pilgrims, Greek, Armenian, Copht, and Abyssinian. This holy fire is said to issue spontaneously from the Holy Sepulchre on Easter eve. At that period the Greek patriarch, with his clergy arrayed in their sacerdotal robes, and followed by the Armenian patriarch and his clergy, and the bishop of the Cophts, march in grand and solemn procession, and singing hymns, three times round the Holy Sepulchre. The procession ended, the Greek patriarch puts off his robes and enters alone into the sepulchre, probably with some phosphorus in his pocket; the Armenian and Cophtic prelates remain in the antichamber, where they state that the angel was sitting when he appeared to the pious women after the resurrection of our Lord. As soon as the holy fire is kindled, as the patriarch says by a miracle, he lights his wax taper and comes forth from the sepulchre, ana offers it first by a previous agreement to such person as bids the highest price for the special privilege of first lighting his taper from that of the patriarch. A considerable sum is paid for this preference, and much competition prevails for it, as they believe that the more it is removed from its first source, the more its purity and efficacy are diminished. The scene of confusion which ensues when the patriarch enters the church with two lighted tapers is beyond description. The people press forward with such incredible eagerness to light their tapers, that Turkish guards, placed with whips and sticks, and liberally dealing out blows on every side,

can scarcely, with all their exertions, prevent many from being trodden to death. The eager motions of the populace, like waves agitated by the wind-the noise and clamor which resound within the dome of the church-the multitude of candles gradually lighted by which the blaze increases, and at length fills the whole building and illuminates its inmost recesses, can more easily be imagined than described. The Greeks assert that the continuation of this pretended miracle is an evident and convincing proof of the truth of their religion; and it is certain that, had the fraud been discontinued, the number of pilgrims would be considerably diminished. The pecuniary interests of the clergy would also have suffered; for in former times some thousand (even 30,000) sequins have been paid for the permission of first receiving the fire from the high priest's hands; but superstition, at least among the rich, has latterly so much declined, that a few hundred sequins are now sufficient to secure the privilege. The Roman Catholic monks of Jerusalem look upon this fraud of the Greeks with horror. They are not exposed to the same temptation, and living in the midst of trials and oppressions, and exercising all the hospitality of which their scanty means are capable, appear to be a simple and interesting race of

men.

The great mosque on the site of the temple of Solomon is the last object we shall here notice at Jerusalem, concerning which Abulfeda has the following passage in his description of Syria. There is at Jerusalem a mosque, à greater there is none in all Islamism, and in it there is a rock (sakhra), which is a stone elevated as a bench, about as high as a man's chest, and its breadth is equal to its height. There is a descent underneath by steps. This sakhra served the prophets, and especially the great prophet, as a place of dismounting from al-borak (a beast larger than an ass and smaller than a camel), who had carried them to Paradise.' M. de Chateaubriand gives several extracts from ancient travellers upon the interior of the mosque; but, as all entrance is strictly forbidden to Christians, he had of course no opportunity of verifying the information.

The following account was given of this mosque, in the year 1796, by the mufti of Jerusalem to a European, who conversed with him in Arabic at the house of the governor of Jerusalem, called by the Christians Pilate's house. This European is now in England, and from him we had the following account:- Hearing me speak in Arabic he entered into conversation with me, and I took the liberty of asking him why the Mahometans would not permit the Christians to see the celebrated mosque of the rock. Upon which he opened a window which overlooks the mosque and all the ground on which it is raised, and permitted me to look at it as much as I pleased. He then said, 'We cannot permit the Christians to tread upon that ground, of which every spot is marked by the step of some holy prophet; still less upon the sakhra, or upon the interior of the mosque. But there are thirty-two large columns which support the great arches, and many other small columns

for the support of the smaller arches; there are many lamps that are lighted on our festivals. There is a mihrab of marble with architectural ornaments, and a staircase to it with steps of the same material. The walls are incrusted with marble like the great mosque at Damascus, and ornamented with painted tiles. The name of God (Allah!) is written in large characters in several parts of the mosque, as well as the names of Mahomet and his first successors. We believe that if an infidel should walk between the columns they would meet and crush him to death.'

The mosque, on account of its peculiar sanctity, was once the place towards which the Mussulmans of north-western Asia were to turn their faces in their prayers; but this commandment was altered by God's special order, and the Bait Allah (house of God) at Mecca was appointed for the only Kiblah. On the sakhra or rock were fixed iron rings, at which to tie the prophet's horses when they came to worship in the mosque. The mosque is called by many names by the Mahometans to denote its superiority over other temples, as al aksa, the whole world, al masgid al aksa, or al giarmiâ al aksa, templum extremum. The origin of its importance seems to have been this:-The kalif Abd-al-Malik al Merwan was jealous of Abdallah the son of Zobeir, the ruler of Arabia, and in order to prevent his subjects in Syria from going in pilgrimage to Mecca, and thus enriching his rival, and probably also with a view to attract the profitable concern of receiving pilgrims from other countries to his own capital, he set up this mosque in opposition to that of Mecca. He adorned and beautified it in the year 685 of the Christian era, employing the whole revenue of Egypt for nine years for the accomplishment of his design. It is believed, on the faith of tradition, that the sakhra or rock is the same from which God spake to the patriarch Jacob, and that the sanctum sanctorum was built where the mosque now stands. Upon the whole it is impossible to contemplate the holy city in its desolate condition without the deepest interest. Jews, Mahometans, and Christians of all sects and denominations unite in acknowledging the existence of something extraordinary and supernatural about her awful ruins. They raise their heads from the dust, and from among them is heard a voice to warn and instruct mankind, and to proclaim to all ages and nations of the word, This hath God wrought.

Dr. CLARKE assures us that he ventured to see this country with other eyes than those of monks, and to make the Scripture rather than Bede or Adamnanus his guide in visiting the holy places; to attend more to a single chapter, nay a single verse of the gospel, than to all the legends and traditions of the fathers of the church.' Now we certainly think that it was a very laudable precaution to refer constantly to the gospel in travelling over the scenes where the events of that sacred history were transacted. But surely it is reasonable to conclude that the fathers of the church,' and even that old lady of good intentions, the empress Helena,' were not unmindful of this obvious precaution.

On the second day's journey from Acre, Dr

Clarke and his companions passed over the plain of Zabulon, 'every where covered with spontaneous vegetation, flourishing with the wildest exuberance; but entirely neglected and uncultivated through the tyranny and bad policy of the tyrant Djezzar. In the centre of this plain lies the ancient acropolis of Sapphura, or Zeph (Joshua IV. 55), once the chief city and bulwark of Galilee.' In the ruins of a stately Gothic edifice, called the house of St. Anne, some ancient pictures, part of the former decorations of the church had lately been discovered; but, from the account and engraving given by Dr. Clarke, they do not appear to be essentially different from the oldest of the sacred paintings, which are occasionally discovered in the ancient European cathedrals. From Sephoury, notwithstanding the rumors of plague, the party proceeded to Nazareth, a small town or village situated upon the side of a barren rocky elevation facing the east, and commanding a long valley. An engraving of this nursing place of our Saviour is given it appears to stand in a desolate situation surmounted by romantic hills. The plague, the tyrannical government of Djezzar, and the natural barrenness of the soil, had conspired to reduce the few inhabitants that remained to the most wretched state of indigence ; and to provoke a repetition of the taunting question, whether 'any good thing could come out of Nazareth?' The objects of curiosity he found at Nazareth were, 1. A cave, the supposed residence of Joseph and the Virgin Mary; for building a handsome church over this retreat the empress Helena, mother of Constantine, has incurred the violent anger of Dr. Clarke, who even goes the length of asserting, that this good old lady would have desiccated and paved the sea of Tiberias, had not nature opposed itself to her wishes. 2. The workshop of Joseph. 3. The synagogue, where Christ is said to have read the Scriptures to the Jews; and, lastly, a precipice without the town, which accords with the words of the Evangelist, and proves the present site of the village to be the same with that occupied by the ancient town. The following singular scenes presented themselves during the day, which the party spent at Nazareth-As we passed through the streets, loud screams, as of a person frantic with rage and grief, drew our attention towards a miserable hovel, whence we perceived a woman issuing hastily, with a cradle, containing an infant. Having placed the child upon the area before her dwelling, she as quickly ran back again; we then perceived her beating something violently, all the while filling the air with the most piercing shrieks. Running to see what was the cause of her cries, we observed an enormous serpent, which she had found near her infant, and had completely despatched before our arrival. Never were maternal feelings more strikingly portrayed than in the countenance of this woman. Not satisfied with having killed the animal, she continued her blows until she had reduced it to atoms, unheeding any thing that was said to her, and only abstracting her attention from its mangled body to cast, occasionally, a wild and momentary glance towards her child. In the evening we visited the environs, and, walking to

the brow of the hill above the town, were gratified by an interesting prospect of the long valley of Nazareth, and some hills between which a road leads to the neighbouring plain of Esdraelon, and to Jerusalem. Some of the Arabs came to converse with us. We were surprised to hear them speaking Italian; they said they had been early instructed in this language, by the friars of the convent. Their conversation was full of complaints against the rapacious tyranny of their governors. One of them said, 'Beggars in England are happier and better than we poor Arabs.' Why better?' said one of our party. Happier,' replied the Arab who had made the observation, in a good government: better, because they will not endure a bad one.' (p. 439).

From Nazareth they proceeded to the sea of Tiberias, an immense lake, almost equal in the grandeur of its appearance to that of Geneva,' surrounded by magnificent mountains rising from the cultivated plains which deck its immediate borders. At the northern extremity of the lake is a mountainous territory, still called in Arabic the wilderness,' to which John the Baptist and Jesus himself retired in their early years. To the south-west, at the distance of twelve miles, lies Mount Thabor, having a conical form, and perfectly insulated on the northern side of the wide plains of Esdraelon. In a romantic nook, on the borders of the lake, is seated the little fortified town of Tiberias, and near it the warm baths of Emmaus. And northward, upon a bold declivity, the travellers beheld the situation of Capernaum, upon the boundaries of the two tribes of Zabulon and Naphthali.' This exquisitely interesting scene is illustrated by a well executed engraving. From Tiberias they crossed the plain of Esdraelon, round the base of Mount Thabor, to Napolose the ancient Sichem. On the plain were encamped parties of Djezzar's cavalry, and the Arabs, whose incursions they were sent to check, occupied the mount and the surrounding hills; a trifling conflict, for the possession of some cattle, had occurred between the hostile bands a few days before. To the historical celebrity of this vast plain, the following well-wrought passage bears an opposite testimony: Here, on this plain, the most fertile part of all the land of Canaan (which, though a solitude, we found like one vast meadow, covered with the richest pasture), the tribe of Issachar 'rejoiced in their tents.' In the first ages of Jewish history, as well as during the Roman empire, the Crusades, and even in later times, it has been the scene of many a memorable contest. Here it was that Barak, descending with his 10,000 from Mount Thabor, discomfited Sisera and all his chariots, even 900 chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him,' gathered from Harosheth of the Gentiles, unto the river of Kishon;' when all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left;' when the kings came and fought, the kings of Canaan in Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo.' Here also it was that Josiah, king of Judah, fought in disguise against Necho, king of Egypt, and fell by the arrows of his antagonist. So great were the lamentations for his death that the mourning for Josiah became 'an.