THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES PICTURESQUE PALESTINE SINAI AND EGYPT EDITED BY COLONEL WILSON, R.E., C.B., RR.S. FORMERLY ENGINEER TO THE PALESTINE EXPLORATION SOCIETY ASSISTED BY THE MOST EMINENT PALESTINE EXPLORERS ETC. WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL AND WOOD FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY HARRY FENN AND J. D. WOODWARD IN TWO VOLUMES, OR FOUR DIVISIONS DIVISION I NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY I, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET COPYRIGHT BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, i88i. %5 ion v.l CONTENTS. DIVISION ONE. PAGE INTRODUCTION. By the Very Rev. DEAN STANLEY, D. D vii JERUSALEM. By COL. WLLSON, R. E., C. B., F. R. S . i Situation of Jerusalem.— View from the Mount of Olives. — Walls and Gates of the City.— The Citadel.— Herod's Palace. — Tower of David. — Tomb of David. — The Holy Sepulchre. — The "Holy Fire." — The Via Dolorosa. — Markets, Bazaars, and Streets of Jerusalem. — The Temple Platform. — Excavations and Discoveries. — The Dome of the Rock. — Water Supply for the Temple. — Herod's Temple. — Ancient Walls. — Garden of Gethsemane. — The Mount of Olives. — Church of the Ascension. — Be^hphage. — Bethany. — Tomb of Lazarus. — The Road from Bethany to Jerusalem. — Siloam. — Cemeteries, Jewish, Christian, and Moslem. — Descrip- tion of various kinds of Ancient Tombs. — Water Supply : Cisterns, Pools, and Aqueducts. — Population of Jerusalem. BETHLEHEM AND THE NORTH OF JUD^A. By the Rev. CANON TRISTRAM, D.D., F.R.S. . . 121 From Jerusalem to Bethlehem.— Churches and Shrines of Bethlehem. — Women of Bethlehem. — Relic Makers. — To Urtas and Solomon's Pools.— Valley and Caves of Khureitun. — To Jebel Fureidis. — Hermit Life. — Convent of Mar Saba. — The Kedron Valley. — The Dead Sea. — Cities of the Plain. — Ruins of Monasteries in the lower part of the Valley of the Jordan. — From Elijah's Fountain to Mount Quarantania. — Ancient Aqueducts. — Jericho. — Fountain of 'Ain Duk. — Passes of Benjamin. — To Michmash, Geba, Mizpeh, and Gibeon. THE MOUNTAINS OF JUDAH AND EPHRAIM. By LIEUT. CONDER, R. E. . . . . . .193 Through the Pass of Beth-horon. — The Valley of Ajalon. — Site of Emmaus. — Through the "Gate of the Valley" to Abu Ghosh. — Kolonia and 'Ain Karim, in the Wady Beit Hanina. — The Valley of Roses. — Philip's Fountain. — Anathoth. — From Jerusalem to Shechem by way of Beeroth, Bethel, Shiloh, and Lebonah.— Wady Deir Ballut. — The Boundary between Judtea and Samaria. — Oak-trees of Syria. — Mount Gerizim. — Sacred Tombs. — The Plain of Mukhnah. — Tomb of Phinehas. — Balata. — Jacob's Well. — Joseph's Tomb. Digitized by tine Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/picturesquepales01wils_0 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. DIVISION ONE. ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL. Jerusalem, from Scopus , . . . . Frontispiece KUBBET ES SaKHRA, FROM THE SOUTH .. o . Vignette Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives to face page 4 Bethany 89 The Mount of Olives from Mount Zion , . . o . . , , , , . . . gg Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem . . . . = . . . . . . , , , .123 Mar Saba, Valley of the Kedron = 148 The Plains of Jericho, from the West = 160 View from Neby Samwil 0.0....,,.-. . . , . . 188 Threshing Corn 201 ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD. PAGE The Jaffa Gate ........ i Entrance to the Citadel ...... 3 The Tower of David— Phasaelus ..... 5 The Mount of Olives ....... 8 The Southern Slopes of Olivet and the Mountains of Moab 9 The Zion Gate, or Gate of the Prophet David . . 10 The Tomb of David . . . . . . .11 Hezekiah's Pool, from the south side . . . -13 Entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre , . 16 The Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre . . . .17 The Chapel of Helena, Church of the Holy Sepulchre 19 The Chapel in the Cave of the Cross . . . .21 Pilgrims of the Greek Church buying Candles . . 22 Via Dolorosa — The Ecce Homo Arch . . . .24 House of Saint Veronica, in the Via Dolorosa . . 25 The Houses of the Rich and Poor Man, Dives and Lazarus 26 A Shoemaker's Shop, Jerusalem ..... 27 Masjed el Majahidin — Mosque of the Knights of the Crescent ........ 30 A Grocer's Shop, Jerusalem , . . . . .32 A Street Cafe, Jerusalem . . . . . • . 33 Entrance to the Hospice of St. John and Minaret of Omar ......... 35 Staircase leading to the Church of St. John . . -37 The Street of the Damascus Gate . . . .40 The Damascus Gate— Bab el Amud (Gate of the Column) 41 The Waihng-place of the Jews . . . . -43 A Jewish Cotton-cleanet ...... 44 Street of the Gate of the Chain . .... 45 PAGE Fountain of the Gate of the Chain— Bab es Silsileh . 48 The Summer Pulpit, Platform of the Dome of the Rock 49 North-west corner of the Haram esh Sherif . . .52 Oratories on the west side of the Haram esh Sherif . 53 Old Cypress-trees in the Haram esh Sherif . . -56 The Golden Gate of the Haram esh Sherif . . -57 Interior of the Dome of the Rock ..... 59 The Cave under the Great Rock on Mount Moriah . 60 The Facade of the Mosque el Aksa, Jerusalem . .61 The Platform of the Dome of the Rock . . .63 Birket Israil— The Pool of Bethesda . . . .66 Mount Scopus from St. Stephen's Gate . . -67 In the Mohammedan Cemetery, Jerusalem . , .69 Khan ez Zait, the great Bazaar of the Oil Merchants . 71 Robinson's Arch, Jerusalem . . . . .72 The Hill of Evil Counsel, from the south wall, Jerusalem 73 The South Wall of the Haram esh Sherif . . .75 The Upper Pool of Siloam . . . . . -77 The Lower Pool of Siloam 79 The Jewish Cemetery in the Valley of Jehoshaphat . 82 Absalom's Pillar, Valley of Jehoshaphat . . .83 The Village of Siloam from the Tomb of St. James . 85 The Garden of Gethsemane 86 Entrance to the Chapel of the Tomb of the Virgin . 87 Exterior of the Golden Gate 89 Mosque and Church of the Ascension, Mount of Olives . . 90 Neby Samwil, from the Mount of Olives . . -91 Traditional Site of Bethphage, the House of Figs . 92 Part of the North Wall of Jerusalem . . . .93 The Quarries near to the Damascus Gate , . .96 Grotto of Jeremiah ,„ ..... 97 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Kefr et Tur, the village on the summit of Olivet . 99 Valley of Hinnom, from the North-west angle of the city wall ........ 102 The Birket Mamilla, commonly called the Upper Pool of Gihon 102 Rock Tombs north of Jerusalem . . . .103 The Citadel of Jerusalem from the Valley of Hinnom 105 Saracenic Fountain on the Aqueduct from Solomon's Pools 106 Mount of Offence, from the Valley of Hinnom . . 107 Aceldama .110 Summit of the Hill of Evil Counsel . . . .110 The Valley of Hinnom in Caves in the Valley of Hinnom, east of Aceldama . 1 14 Tophet, the lower portion of the Valley of Hinnom . 115 Jerusalem from the south . . . . . • n? Bir Eyub— Job's Well 120 Oliv^e Grove below Bir Eyub 121 View of the Shepherds' Field, from Bethlehem . .124 In the Shepherds' Field, Bethlehem . . . .125 Rachel's Tomb 126 External S '.airway of a House at Bethlehem . . 127 Chapel of the Nativity in the Crypt of the Church of St. Mary, Bethlehem 128 An example of a Peasant's Home, with its manger, in a village of Palestine 129 Bethlehem, from the south-west . . . -131 Mother-of-pearl Workers of Bethlehem . . .133 David's Well 134 The Milk Grotto, Bethlehem 135 Herodium, or Frank Mountain, from Bethlehem . 137 View from the Frank Mountain 137 Valley of Urtas 140 Valley and Ruins of Khureitun, from Cave of AduUam 143 Pools of Solomon 145 The traditional Cave of AduUam, at Khureitun . . 147 Balconies to Monks' Cells, Mar Saba .... 149 Entrance to the Cave of St. Saba . . . .150 Dead Sea and Mountains of Moab from Mar Saba . 152 St. Saba's Palm-tree . . . . . . -153 Hermits' Caves in the Chffs of the Kedron . . -155 Convent of Mar Saba, from Brook Kedron . . 158 Northern End of the Dead Sea . . . . -159 Kasr Hajla, the ancient Beth Hogla . . . .159 Bathing-place on the Jordan 162 Valley of the Jordan, from the Convent of St. John the Baptist 163 Banks of the Jordan, above the Convent of St. John the Baptist . .165 Bit on the Plains of Jericho 167 Er Riha, the modern Jericho 168 One of the Arches of an Aqueduct over the Wady Kelt, Plains of Jericho 169 PAGE Ain es Sultan, the Sultan's Spring . . , .172 Mount Quarantania, from the site of Jericho . .173 Ruined Convent of St. George . . . . -175 Ruins in the Gorge of the Wady Kelt, the Valley of Achor Mukmas, the ancient Michmash, in the Wady Suweinit 181 Jeba, the ancient Geba of Benjamin . . . .183 Site of Ai 185 The Summit of Neby Samwil 186 Taleil el Ful, from Neby Samwil . . . .188 The Village of El Jib, the ancient Gibeon of Benjamin 189 Neby Samwil, the ancient Mizpeh, the watchtower of Benjamin 190 Beit 'Ur el Foka, on the site of Upper Beth-horon . 191 View from Upper Beth-horon . . . . .192 Beit 'Ur et Tahta, on the site of Lower Beth-hcron . 193 View from the Ruins of the Mediaeval Fortress at Latron ......... 195 Valley of Ajalon, from the west . . . . . 195 Soba, from the Jerusalem road ..... 198 Kurye el 'Anab, the Village of Grapes . . -199 Kolonia, and Wady Beit Hanina .... 202 Mosque of the Fountain, 'Ain Karim .... 203 Franciscan Monastery and Church of St. John at 'Ain Karim, in the so-called " Wilderness of St. John" 205 Well of Zacharias and Elizabeth, 'Ain Karim . . 207 Altar of Church of St. John, 'Ain Karim . . . 209 'Ain Haniyeh, in the Valley of Roses . . . .210 'Anata, on the site of Anathoth 211 The Village of Sh'afat, on the supposed site of Nob, the City of the Priests 213 Mosque and Tomb at Er Ram, the Ramah of Benjamin 214 Ruins of Crusaders' Church at El Bireh, the ancient Beeroth . . . . . . . .215 A Halt for the Night in the Khan of El Bireh, the ancient Beeroth .216 Beitin, the ancient Bethel 217 Remains of a Church at Beitin . . . . .219 The Village of Taiyibeh, from the Heights of Rumman 222 Wady el Jib 223 Seilun, on the site of Shiloh 225 Ancient Doorway at Shiloh, and Ruins of the "Con- vent Castle " in Wady Lubban (Lebonah) . . 226 A Threshing-floor ....... 227 Jacob's Well, at the foot of Mount Gerizim . . 230 Joseph's Tomb 231 Ruins on the summit of Mount Gerizim, on the site of the Samaritan Temple 233 The Village of Salim -. 237 Tomb of Phinehas 238 INTRODUCTION. " "HE writers on sacred geography may be divided into three classes. There was first the class of pilgrims, beginning with the Empress Helena, and continuing through the whole period of the Middle Ages, almost down to our own time. The writings of this class contain much that is curious in the way of legend and of fancy, but in the way of historical, geographical, or philosophical investigation they contain almost nothing. Next, in the seventeenth century, supervened the class of travellers, few and far between, who wandered from the beaten track, partly in pursuit of adventure, partly for the sake of investigating these countries scientifically, and who, advancing onwards to the present time, included amongst their number some few who have acquired a widespread fame — amongst others, first and foremost, the Emperor Napoleon, who, in his brief Notes on Syria, founded on his military expedition, has laid the basis of all the subsequent scientific descriptions of Palestine. But these travellers were hardly ever gifted with a sense of the perception either of natural scenery, or of imaginative and devotional sentiment. Jerusalem, as was expressed by that great genius of whom v/e have just spoken, did not lie within the line of their operations. The third group partly resembled these, but may be distinguished as the literary class. Chateaubriand was the first. He described — inaccurately, but still with a sense of what he saw before him— something of the peculiar conformation of the outlines of the country. He was the first who spoke of that long line of mysterious hills beyond the Jordan which now impresses every traveller who visits those scenes. These literary travellers were finally united with that more scientific group which pre- ceded them in the person of one who must be called for all practical purposes the discoverer of Palestine. It was Dr. Robinson, the American traveller, who first brought to the geography of Palestine a previous knowledge worthy of the subject and an eye capable of observing it. From that time forward the two streams of literary and of scientific investigators have been continued, sometimes apart, sometimes united. The crowd of visitors who hang on the outskirts of the literary class, and who have published their viii INTRODUCTION. travels, are well-nigh countless. Their books are amongst the least worthy of the noble theme of any that have appeared on this or any other country. But the class which may be called scientific have more or less kept before their minds the ideal which advanced knowledge and the seriousness of the subject demanded ; and it is to their work that this volume is chiefly owing. It represents the results of their travels — in Egypt, so far as it concerns the Chosen People ; in Arabia, so far as Arabia is connected with the giving of the Law and the wanderings of the Israelites ; in Palestine, as it includes not only the sacred history, both Jewish and Christian, but also the monuments of the Crusaders and the Saracen princes of a later time. The engravings and the descriptions must be left to speak for themselves. A few words only need here be added to express the value of such an addition to our knowledge of the Holy Land, or rather, we may say, of the Holy Lands. Of Egypt it is enough to say that its transitory connection with the slavery and migration of the children of Israel, although very slightly indicated in the Egyptian history or monuments, yet deserves any light which can be thrown by the recent investigations which have taken place with regard to Heliopolis or the neighbourhood of Suez. The desert of Mount Sinai is more closely bound up with the sacred history. A few incidents in the wanderings of the Chosen People, the identification of Paran and of the Giving of the Law with the magnificent scenery of Serbal and the Gebel Mousa, and the conjectural identification of Petra with Kadesh, or, at any rate, with Mount Hor, furnish the only links of direct relationship ; but the general atmosphere, the natural history, and the unique configuration of the granite mountains which form the peculiar charm of the desert, cannot fail to quicken the appreciation with which we read the accounts of the " grreat and terrible wilderness," and the thunders and liMitninas of Mount Horeb, the palm-trees of Elim, and the springs of Rephidim and Kadesh. But in Palestine the connection of the history and the geography is so intimate and so compact as to exceed that of any other country, with the exception of Greece. The beauty, the variety, the marked features of the Grecian landscape, cannot be rivalled by any other part of the world, and are so interwoven with every stage of the mythology and history of the marvellous people which inhabited it, as to place its historical geography in a superlative degree above that of any other nation or locality. Next to Greece, however, Palestine stands supreme. The extraordinary rift of the Jordan valley, deeper than any similar fissure on the surface of the earth, the innumerable questions, historical or scientific, which that valley suggests in the overthrow of the five cities in the passage of the Jordan, would of itself render Palestine peculiar amongst the countries of INTRODUCTION. ix the globe. The caves with which its limestone rocks are perforated are features which cannot be destroyed or altered by time, and represent a series of adventures and hiding- places from the time of Abraham and David down to the heroic insurgents of the age of Josephus, The wells and springs, which are so remarkable an element in all Eastern lands, and which ally themselves alike with the early history of the Patriarchs and with the recorded discourses of Him who by the well of Sychar proclaimed the great truth of the spirituality and universality of His religion, still remain as living witnesses to the history of which they are the expression, and justify with singular force the striking words of a well-known traveller, " There is no event so permanent as that which is writ in water." The fragments of buildings which overspread the whole country, and which date from almost every age, recall the prehistoric times of those old aboriginal tribes whose names appear only to be blotted out by the successive tides of invasion which have swept over the country; and the manifold vestiges of Jerusalem, Samaria, Caesarea, and Baalbec carry us on, like the broken arches of a majestic aqueduct, through the Herodian, the Syro- Roman, and the Crusading periods, so as to leave upon the mind the impression, even more than Greece or Italy, of a land of ruins. The mountains, if unlike Greece, where, by reason of the variety of form and colour, " Each old poetic mountain Inspiration breathes around," yet, by the general elevation of the whole country, have given form and substance to the peculiar diction of Prophet and Psalmist, and have also lent themselves to that long succession of celebrated views with which no other history can compare. They, and they alone, made possible the view of Abraham from Bethel ; the view of Jacob from the rocky defile of Jabbok; the view of Moses from the top of Pisgah ; the survey of Balaam from that same spot over the country which lay beneath his feet ; the parting view of the exile of the forty-second Psalm, as he mounted the hills of Gilead and looked back on the beloved sanctuary of his home ; the view of a greater than Abraham, or Moses, or David, from a mountain " exceeding- hia-h," over " all the kinQ;-doms of the world ;" or, again, from Hermon, where His garments became as white as snow; or, again, from that spot which, almost alone in Palestine, is consecrated, not by tradition, but by its own intrinsic evidence, as the place where, "when He saw Jerusalem, He wept over it." Such are some of the scenes which are presented in this volume. It is believed that they will tend, at once by the accuracy of description and of delineation, to produce a livelier sense of the " goodly land," and the descending river, and the holy city "with the mountains standing round about it." X INTRODUCTION. In the New Testament they can for the most part only supply the external framework where the grand events occurred and the great truths were proclaimed, which form the substance of the Christian revelation. The events and the truths are too spiritual to be touched by the local and natural position of mountain and valley, of building and vegetation. "He is not here — He is risen." But for the Old Testament, where the name of every plain is significant, where the formation of every glen has wrought itself into a picture, where every stream, spring, and well has intertwined itself with some sacred history, where every bird and beast has almost a voice that speaks, it is not too much to say, " Thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof." JERUSALEM, If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning." — Ps. cxxxvii. 5. ERUSALEM is emphatically a moun- tain city. Situated in the heart of the hill country which extends from the great plain of Esdraelon to the southern extremity of the Promised Land, sur- rounded on all sides by limestone hills whose surface is broken by countless ravines, and only approached by rough mountain roads, its position is one of great natural strength. This peculiarity in the situation of the Holy City is frequently alluded to in the Bible, and we may infer from the well-known words of the Psalmist, " As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about THE JAFFA GATE. The chief entrance to the city of Jerusalem, as it appears from within the city walls. The open space within the gate is used as a market-place. 2 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. his people," that importance was attached to the hills as a barrier or protection against hostile attack. The modern city stands, as did the ancient one, on the southern extremity of a gently shelving plateau, not more than one thousand acres in extent, which is bordered by two valleys that bear names familiar to us from childhood : one is the Valley of the Brook Kedron, the other the Valley of Hinnom. These two valleys, at first mere shallow depressions in the ground, take their rise within a few yards of each other, and at an altitude of two thousand six hundred and fifty feet above the sea, in the gentle undulation which at that point parts the waters of the Mediterranean from those of the Jordan Valley. Separating at once, they soon take one of those rapid plunges downward so characteristic of the wild glens of Judaea, and, after encircling the plateau, meet again at Bir Eyub (the Well of Job), six hundred and seventy-two feet below their original starting-point ; hence, united as the Wady en Nar, " Valley of Fire," they pass by a deep gorge through the Wilderness of Judaea to the Dead Sea. The eastern or Kedron valley, after running eastward for a mile and a half, turns sharply to the south and forms at its southern extremity the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The western valley, or Valley of Hinnom, which at its head swells out into a large shallow basin, follows a southerly course for one mile and a quarter, and then turns eastward to Bir Eyub, south of the city. A third ravine, the Tyropoeon, or Valley of the Cheesemongers, which rises near the head of the plateau between the Kedron and Hinnom valleys, runs southward to join the former at Siloam, and divides the ground on which the city stands into two spurs of unequal size, which terminate in abrupt broken slopes. On Mount Moriah, the eastern and smaller spur, once stood the temples of Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Herod, and the palace of Solomon ; on the western, which is one hundred and twenty feet higher than Moriah, and of greater area, were situated the "upper city" of Josephus, the stately palace of Herod, and the three great towers Hippicus, Phasaelus, and Mariamne. A fourth and smaller ravine, the rugged nature of which was unsuspected a few years ago, rises near the eastern side of the plateau and falls into the Kedron near the well-known Golden Gate. In the bed of this ravine two large reservoirs were constructed ; one of these still exists as the Birket Israil, or Pool of Bethesda, The sides of the valleys of Kedron and Hinnom are now encumbered with rubbish, but they are still sufficiently steep to be difficult of access, and every here and there places are found where the rock has been cut perpendicularly downwards, in cliffs ten to twenty feet high, to give additional security. It was probably in these natural defences, strengthened by art, which protect the city on the south, east, and west, that the Jebusites put their trust when they boasted to King David, " Thou wilt not come in hither ; the blind and lame shall drive thee back." The only side upon which the city could be attacked with any chance of success was the north ; and here it was defended by walls of such massive strength as JERUSALEM. 3 to be capable of offering a determined resistance to the most celebrated armies of the ancient world. Immediately beyond the Kedron Valley, "before" or to the east of Jerusalem, is the Mount of Olives (see page 8), a long ridge of graceful outline, swelling out ever and again ENTRANCE TO THE CITADEL. Showing the rudely constructed wooden bridge across the moat and Turkish sentries on guard. into rounded knolls which command striking views of the city and the surrounding country. On one of these knolls, opposite Mount Moriah, and two hundred and twenty feet above the Temple Platform, are the Mosque and Church of the Ascension ; on another, towards the north, a small ruin marks the spot where, according to tradition, the men of Galilee stood ( 4 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. "gazing up into heaven" (Acts i. ii); and still farther northward is Scopus, the brow of the hill whence Titus and his legions looked down upon the doomed city (see Frontispiece). The ride from Scopus along the crest of Olivet to the Church of the Ascension is one of the greatest interest and beauty : on one side there are ever-changing views of the deep depression of the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea ; on the other, every step brings more prominently to view some spot, or it may be some building, which no thoughtful man can look upon without at least a passing emotion. The view from the Mount of Olives is one which, from its strange beauty and its extraordinary interest, lingers long and lovingly in the memory of those who have seen it. Away to the north is the minaret-crowned height of Neby Samwil, the Mizpeh, perhaps, of Scripture, whence many a weary pilgrim has caught his first glimpse of the long-looked-for Zion. To the east are grey, bare hills, cut up by a thousand ravines, which descend abruptly to the Jordan Valley, and that strange salt sea which occupies the deepest depression of the earth's surface. The atmosphere is so clear, so transparent, that the placid water seems at times almost .within reach, yet it is many miles away, and its surface is no less than three thousand nine hundred feet below the mount. Beyond the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea, a long mountain wall, which is broken here and there by wild gorges through which the waters of Arnon and other streams find their way to the lower depths, extends from Mount Gilead on the north to the Mountains of Moab on the south (see page 9). In the evening, when the sun is low and the blinding glare from the white hills in the foreground is somewhat subdued, the colouring on the distant mountains is exquisite, and the changing light produces a succession of ever-varying tints which it would be impossible to transfer to canvas. The view towards the west, which should be seen by morning light, embraces the entire city of Jerusalem ; every hill and valley and nearly all the important buildings can be recognised at once, and a general impression of their relative positions obtained. Looking down from his vantage ground on Olivet, the spectator is at once struck by the appearance of ruin and decay which the city presents, and especially by the vast accumulation of rubbish within and around it : the deep gorge of the Tyropoeon, which cut through the heart of the town, is now but a slight depression ; the wild ravine in which the Pool of Bethesda was cut is filled to overflowing ; Kedron's bed is deeply covered with debris ; the precipices which Joab scaled are slopes of earth and stones planted with corn and vegetables ; and the Via Dolorosa is forty to fifty feet above the level of the ancient roadway. The extensive cemeteries which hem in the city on almost every side give a mournful aspect to the view, and this effect is heightened by the oppressive silence which broods over the place during the greater portion of the day, and by the sober grey of the dome-roofed houses. How strangely changed from that Jerusalem which the Psalmist once described in loving terms as " Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth ! " From the Church of the Ascension the ground shelves down to the dry bed of the" Kedron and then rises steeply to the summit of Mount Moriah, on which is now situated the JERUSALEM. 7 vicinity of the Zion Gate, whilst another, named " El Wad," or Valley Street, follows, except where it has to cross the causeway, the general direction of the Tyropoeon Valley to the Dung Gate. From St. Stephen's Gate a street runs past the Pool of Bethesda to the Valley Street, and from the Zion Gate a street leads in an almost direct line to an open space in front of the Jaffa Gate. The principal streets divide Jerusalem, approximately, into four quarters, of which the north-east, including Bezetha and the Upper Tyropoeon Valley, is occupied by Moslems ; the north-west and south-west, or Zion and the western hills, by Christians ; and the south-east, comprising the eastern slope of Zion and the Lower Tyropoeon, by Jews. The Jaffa Gate, or Gate of Hebron (Bab el Khalil), is the principal entrance to the city, and its immediate neighbourhood is generally enlivened by a throng of passers-by, and by the groups of muleteers, packers, and idlers who spend a large portion of their time lounging about the cafes without the gate (see page i). South of the Jaffa Gate is the Citadel, and beyond it are the barracks and the extensive gardens of the Armenian monastery (see page 5). This portion of the western hill was covered in part, or perhaps entirely, by Herod's Palace, with its gardens, and by the three towers which adjoined it on the north. Josephus has left us a glowing account of the royal palace, which " was entirely surrounded by a wall thirty cubits high, with decorated towers at equal intervals, and contained enormous banqueting halls, besides numerous chambers richly adorned." The towers were built of blocks of white stone of great size, " so exactly joined together that each tower appeared to be one mass of rock ; " and they played a prominent part during the memorable siege by the Romans. These towers were left standing by Titus when he destroyed the city, to protect the legion left to garrison the place and prevent any insurrectionary movements on the part of the Jews. Any remains which may now exist of Herod's Palace are buried beneath a mass of rubbish more than thirty feet deep; but two at least of the towers, Phasaelus and Hippicus, can be recognised in the works of the modern Citadel. The Citadel, remodelled in the fourteenth century, and again repaired in the sixteenth century, consists of five square towers and other buildings, surrounded by a ditch (see page 3). It has a commanding position, and before the introduction of fire-arms must have been of great strength. Even now the solid masonry of the lower portion would resist for some time any artillery that could be brought against it. The Tower of David (see page 5) appears to be the oldest portion of the Citadel, and its dimensions and mode of construction agree well with those of the tower Phasaelus as described by Josephus. The substructure consists of a solid masonry escarp, rising from the bottom of the ditch at an angle of about forty-five degrees, with a pathway, or chemin des rondes, round the top. Above this the tower rises in a solid mass for a height of twenty-nine feet, and then comes the superstructure. The escarp retains to some extent its original appear- ance, but time and hard treatment have worn away much of the finer work, and the repairs have been executed in the usual slovenly manner of the Turks. The old work, where it can be PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. From a house-top at the south-west corner of the Pool of Hezekiah, looking eastward. seen, is equal, if not superior, to the best specimens of masonry in the far-famed wall of the Temple Platform ; the faces of the stones are dressed with an astonishing degree of fineness, and the whole, when perfect, must have presented a smooth surface difficult to escalade, and, from the solidity of the mass, unassailable by the battering ram. The masonry of the _^ solid tower is rougher ; the faces of the stones project, and they are pitted with a number of deep square holes which have lon| JERUSALEM. 9 THE SOUTHERN SLOPES OF OLIVET AND THE MOUNTAINS OF MOAB. From the same spot, overlooking David Street, crowded with people; the large domed quadrangle on the right is the Synagogue of the Ashkenazim Jews. "wm ^^P^^^'^^^' ^^^j^ ^ S j^^^^^^^^^^' ' puzzled the antiquary. The super- dti^!' " ' structure contains several chambers, and a cistern for the collection of rain-water. In one of the rooms a " mihrab " marks the place where, according to Moslem tradition, David composed the Psalms, '^^^'^^'W'^^'^€^^^BBMI^^^BIB ^^'^ another chamber is pointed out as the reception room of the same king. The Tower of David was the last place to yield when Jerusalem was captured by the 3 lO PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. Crusaders; and when the city walls were destroyed by the Moslems in the thirteenth century, it was for some reason — probably its solidity — spared, to come down to our own time as a fine example of the mural masonry of the Jews. The remaining towers of the Citadel have suffered far more severely, from the battering THE ZION GATE, OR GATE OF THE PROPHET DAVm. Exterior view. In the foreground, outside the gate, is a group of Bethlehemites. they have undergone during numerous sieges, and without extensive excavation it would be impossible to determine their original forrq^ The tower, however, which guards the Jaffa Gate, though its dimensions are somewhat smaller than those given by Josephus, is satisfactorily identified with the tower of Hippicus by the discovery of an aqueduct twelve feet below JERUSALEM. the level of the present conduit, which is probably that by which, according to the Jewish historian, water was brought into that building. Within the Citadel there is ruin and rubbish everywhere ; without, in the moat, soldiers' gardens, beds of cactus or prickly pear, and filth of every possible description ; and on the ramparts a few old cannon, much dreaded by the artillerymen who have to fire them. The view from the top of David's Tower is extensive, embracing the whole town, the Mount of Olives, the Dead Sea, and the Mountains of Moab — a pleasant sight to feast the eyes upon for half an hour before the sun goes down. In front of the Tower of David is the residence of the late Bishop Gobat, whose stalwart THE TOMB OF DAVID. The whole group of buildings is called Neby Datid, which signifies the Sanctuary of the Sepulchre of the Prophet David. form and kind, homely manner will not soon be forgotten. Not far from it, opposite the Citadel, on the east side of Armenian Street, which leads to the Zion Gate, is Christ Church, the English Protestant church. The foundation stone of this church was laid in 1842 by Bishop Alexander, a Jewish proselyte, who in the previous year had been consecrated first bishop of the United Church of England and Ireland in Jerusalem. The church owes its existence to the efforts of the English Society for Promoting Christianity . among the Jews, which has had resident missionaries in the city since 1824. 12 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. Proceeding southward along Armenian Street, we have on the right the fine gardens of the Armenian Monastery, and on the left the monastery itself, and the Church of St. James. The monastery is the largest and most comfortable building of its class in Jerusalem, and has, attached to it, schools and dormitories for the accommodation of students preparing themselves for the priesthood, and also an extensive range of buildings capable of containing three thousand pilgrims. It was founded by the Georgians as early as the eleventh century, but when their fortunes declined and they were unable to satisfy the claims made upon them by the Turks, it was sold by them to the Armenians in the fifteenth century. The Georgians attached as a condition to the sale that the monastery should be restored to them when they were again able to support it ; and upon this condition the Greek Church has based a claim to the buildings, which may some day swell into one of those quarrels respecting the holy places which have led to such serious consequences. The refectory or dining-hall of the monastery retains much of its old character — a step divides the patriarch and bishops from the rest of the clergy ; the tables are fine slabs of white marble ; the pavement is of what is known as " Santa Croce " marble ; there is some pretty inlaid work ; and on the walls, amidst much that is modern, are some fine old porcelain tiles. The Church of St. James is, with the exception of that of the Holy Sepulchre, the largest within the city, and is the richest in gilding, decoration, and pictures. On the north side of the church is a chapel dedicated to St. Stephen, in which is preserved the font used on the occasion of the baptism of the first Jew converted to Christianity. The walls of the church and its chapels are covered with porcelain tiles of comparatively modern date and of inferior pattern. A short distance beyond the monastery is the Zion Gate, or the Gate of the Prophet David, Bab en Neby Daud (see page lo), leading out to the group of buildings called Neby Daud, which stand on the waste portion of the modern Mount Zion (see page ii). The gate itself dates from the reconstruction of the walls by Suleiman in 1539 — 42 a.d. Close to the Zion Gate is an Armenian monastery called the House of Caiaphas, in which are shown the prison of Our Lord and the stone that once closed the Holy Sepulchre. In the quadrangle of the monastery are the tombs of the Armenian patriarchs of Jerusalem. A short distance beyond are the " coenaculum," or chamber of the Last Supper, and the Tomb of David, contained in one building. The tomb, or cenotaph shown as such, occupies the eastern end of a chamber which appears to have been the crypt of an old church erected during the Frank kingdom of Jerusalem, probably that called the Church of St. Mary. We must now return to the market-place in front of the Jaffa Gate, and, proceeding for a short distance eastward down David Street, turn to the left into the street of the Christians to gain the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Passing along this last street, we have, at first, on the left the large reservoir known as Hezekiah's Pool, and on the right the Greek Church and Monastery of St. John the Baptist. Hezekiah's Pool, or, as it is called by the people, " The Pool of the Patriarch's Bath," is an open tank surrounded by houses, which is supplied with JERUSALEM. 13 The swallows flying towards the turbid water- the man dipping his jar into it from a balcony, and the smokers in the foreground, are all characteristic of the spot at the end of the summer, when good water is scarce. water by an aqueduct from a reservoir outside the city. It is capable of containing about three million gallons of water, but is in very bad repair. The bottom of the pool is covered by a thick deposit of vegetable mould, and one corner is nothing more than an open cesspit of the foulest descrip- tion ; the water, nominally, is only used for washing pur- poses, but the poorer classes often draw it for drinking during summer, and hence arises much PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. fever and sickness. The Church of St. John the Baptist, or " Forerunner," has been built above a much older church, which is half-filled with rubbish, but in a good state of preservation. The floor of this old church is twenty-five feet below the present level of the " Street of the Christians " — a good proof of the great accumulation of rubbish in this part of the city. At Easter time Christian Street is thronged with pilgrims passing to and fro, or making purchases at the numerous shops, and presents an appearance of life and animation which it is far from possessing during the autumn and winter months. On the left-hand side of the street, near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, is the great Greek Monastery, celebrated for the library and manuscripts which it contains. Five churches — of which the oldest is that of St. Thecla — are included in the monastery, and there is considerable accommodation for the monks and for pilgrims who visit Jerusalem. On the right-hand side of the street a narrow passage and flight of steps lead down to the courtyard in front of the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (see page i6). The open court is the favourite resort of pedlars from Bethlehem, who expose their wares for sale on the pavement, and drive a thriving trade in rosaries, mother-of-pearl ornaments, olive-wood trinkets, and other small articles, which the pilgrims purchase as mementoes of their visit to the Holy City. A discussion of the many difficult questions connected with the site of the Holy Sepulchre would be beyond the scope of the present work ; it will be sufficient here to state briefly the nature of the theories which have been advanced, and to give a slight sketch of the history of the church. The three principal theories are : — First, that the Sepulchre of our Lord was beneath the " Sakhra " or Rock in the Haram esh Sherif, and that the noble building above it, the " Dome of the Rock," is the Church of the Resurrection erected by the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century. According to this theory, of which Mr. James Fergusson is the well-known author and able exponent, the tradition relating to the site of the sepulchre was transferred to the present tomb in the eleventh century. Second, that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre occupies the ground once covered by the churches of Constantine, and that it contains within its walls the tomb of Christ. Third, that the true sepulchre was to the north of the city without the present walls, and was never found, but that the present "Holy Sepulchre" is the tomb "miraculously discovered" by Constantine, and that over which he built his church. The first question that arises is whether Constantine really found the " new sepulchre wherein was never man yet laid," which Joseph of Arimathaea "had hewn out in the rock" in his own garden. What is historically certain is that Constantine erected on the "discovered ground" a magnificent group of buildings, which were completed and dedicated in 335 a.d. In 614 A.D., when the Persians captured Jerusalem, the Great Basilica, or Martyrion, was wholly or partially destroyed by fire, but it was rebuilt about 626 a.d. by Modestus, Superior of the Monastery of Theodosius. The buildings, which are fully described by a French bishop, Arculf, who saw them about 700 a.d., then consisted of the Anastasis, or Church of the Resurrection, which contained the Holy Sepulchre ; the Basilica, or Martyrion, a five-aisled JERUSALEM. 15 building with a circular apse and an opening towards the east ; the square Church of St. Mary ; and a very large church on the east of the sepulchre, called the Church of Golgotha. In 936, and again in 969, when the Fatimite Caliphs gained possession of the city, portions of the churches were damaged by fire; and in 10 10 they were partially destroyed by El Hakim, the third Fatimite Caliph. This wild fanatic commenced a systematic persecution of the Christians, drove them from their churches, and even attempted to destroy the Holy Sepulchre. About the middle of the eleventh century the Christians began to return to Jerusalem (1048 a.d.) and commenced the rebuilding of the churches; and it is to this period that Mr. Fergusson ascribes the transference of the site of the Holy Sepulchre from the Sakhra in the Haram esh Sherif to its present position. During the last half of the eleventh century Jerusalem fell under Turkish rule, and the Christians were much oppressed ; they were robbed and maltreated even whilst worshipping in their churches, and the pilgrims had to submit to every species of insult. Among those who suffered was Peter the Hermit, whose burning eloquence on his return to Europe roused the indignation of Western Christendom and brought about the First Crusade. On the 15th July, 1099, the Crusaders captured Jerusalem, and, after putting to death most of the Turkish population, entered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre barefooted and singing hymns of praise. They soon, however, found the building too insignificant, and commenced to remodel it and add new shrines. An English monk named Saewulf, who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem about 1103, has left an account of the buildings as they then existed, and a description of the numerous " Holy Places," many of which have been handed down by tradition to the present day. When Saladin took the city in 1187, and also in 1244, when the Christians were finally driven from Jerusalem, the church and the sepulchre were injured, but with these exceptions the buildings remained nearly in the state in which the Crusaders left them until the great fire of 1808. The church, except the eastern portion, was almost entirely destroyed; the dome fell in, crushing the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre ; the marble columns of the Rotunda were cracked and calcined ; images, altars, pictures, were consumed in the general conflagration ; and there was a mass of ruin from the Chapel of Helena to the rock-hewn tomb of Joseph of Arimathsea. In the intrigues which followed at Jerusalem and Constantinople in connection with the rebuilding of the church, the Greeks secured for themselves the greater portion of the buildings, and during the execution of the repairs two noble monuments of the Latin or Frank kingdom, the tombs of Godfrey de Bouillon and his brother Baldwin, disappeared. The work was completed and the renovated church consecrated in 18 10, a certain Greek, Commenos by name, being architect. The only entrance to the church at present is on the south side, from the open court or quadrangle which has been alluded to above. South of the court is the Greek Monastery of Gethsemane, occupying the site of the residence of the Grand Master of the Knights of ENTRANCE TO THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. Pilgrims buying rosaries and relics in the forecourt. JERUSALEM. 17 St. John ; in front of this building are the bases of three columns, probably the remains of some porch or screen. On the east side are the Greek Monastery of Abraham, containing a small chapel in which is shown the spot, close to Golgotha, where Abraham was on the THE SHRINE OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. The enormous candles at the entrance are lighted only on important festivals. point of sacrificing Isaac; the Armenian Church of St. John; and the Coptic Chapel of the Angel St. Michael, whence a passage leads to the Coptic Monastery. On the west side are the Chapel of St. James, the brother of our Lord ; the Chapel of the " Forty Martyrs," or of 4 i8 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. the " Ointment Bearers " — originally the Chapel of the Trinity — where all marriages and baptisms were conducted, and which contains a very beautiful font ; and the Chapel of St. John, in the basement story of the great tower. The facade of the church occupies the entire northern side of the court. There are two doorways, one open and one closed by the masonry of the Chapel of Calvary, and above each door is a window. The whole dates from the twelfth century, and forms part of the work of the Crusaders when they remodelled the church. Some of the ornamentation is vepy similar to that which may be seen in many churches in Normandy at the present day, and a bas-relief over one of the doors, representing with much spirit the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem, is supposed to have been executed in France. The string courses above the doors and windows are partly made up of blocks of stone belonging to a very beautiful cornice of classical design, almost identical with that of the cornice of the Golden Gate in the east wall above the Haram esh Sherif At the north-east corner of the court is a small chapel dedicated to St. Mary of Egypt. Above this chapel is another called the Chapel of the Agony, which is adjacent to Mount Calvary, and belongs to the Latins. In the north-east corner of the court is the fine Campanile or Bell Tower, projecting from the facade, and once standing free, but now incorporated with the church. The tower was erected towards the close of the Latin occupation of Jerusalem, about 1170, and as late as 1678 consisted of five stories. There are at present only three stories, so that the striking effect which must have been produced by the tower when it was in its original state is quite lost. On entering the church we pass at once into the south transept of the Church of the Crusaders, which, in consequence of the changes made in 1808, has now the appearance of a vestibule. Here, on the left-hand side, some members of the Moslem family which has charge of the keys will always be found seated when the church is open ; and the visitor has directly in front of him the " Stone of Unction," which is said to mark the spot on which our Lord's body was laid when it was anointed after having been taken down from the cross. The stone, a large slab of limestone, is raised a few inches above the level of the floor, and is said to have been placed in its present position when the church was rebuilt. A few paces to the left of the stone is the spot where the Virgin Mary and the other women stood when the body of Christ was anointed, and beyond it lies the Rotunda, which is sixty-seven feet in diameter. The Rotunda formerly had twelve large columns which supported the dome, but there are now eighteen piers which carry a clerestory and a dome open at the top. A vaulted aisle with three apses, now walled up and divided into chambers, runs round the western half of the Rotunda. In the centre is the Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre (see page 17), built, in the very worst taste, of the ruddy coloured' limestone known at Jerusalem as " Santa Croce " marble. The building is about twenty-six feet long and eighteen feet wide. Its western end is polygonal in shape, its eastern, square ; and the interior is divided into two chapels, one on the east, known as the Chapel of the Angels, the other containing the Sepulchre of Christ. In front of the JERUSALEM. 19 THE CHAPEL OF HELENA, CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. Showing the entrance to the Cave of the Cross. 20 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. entrance to the Chapel of the Angels are gigantic wax candles, lighted only on certain solemn occasions, and here the pilgrims take off their shoes before venturing to tread on the holy ground within. On either side of the entrance are two holes in the wall through which the " Holy Fire " is given out at the Greek Easter ; and in the centre of the chapel itself, encased in marble and resting on a pedestal, is a portion of the stone that was rolled away from the mouth of the Sepulchre. At the western end of the antechamber is a low doorway, the mouth of the tomb, over which is a bas-relief representing the figure of our Lord rising from the grave, with the angel seated on the right-hand side, and the two Marys bringing incense and spices for the anointment on the left. The tomb chamber is entirely lined with marble, and from its roof hang forty-three lamps, of which thirteen belong to the Latins, thirteen to the Greeks, thirteen to the Armenians, and four to the Copts. These lamps are kept burning day and night. The tomb is a raised bench two feet high, six feet four inches long, and three feet wide, covered by a marble slab which has a groove cut transversely across the centre. Above the tomb are three bas-reliefs in white marble representing the resurrection. A small chapel belonging to the Copts is attached to the western end of the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre, and nearly opposite to it a door leads from the Rotunda to the Chapel of th-e Syrians, and thence to the chamber which contains the tombs of Joseph and Nicodemus. The tombs are of the kind known as " kokim " (deep horizontal recesses), and there can be no reasonable doubt that the chamber is an ancient Jewish sepulchre containing, when perfect, six " kokim " for the reception of bodies. This would at first sight seem to indicate that the ground upon which the church is built lay without the walls of the ancient city ; but we know that some of the kings were buried in Jerusalem, and it is doubtful to what extent the Jews, before the Captivity, buried their dead outside the walls. At the time of the Roman siege one tomb at least lay within the walls, for it is referred to by Josephus as a well-known object. North of the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre the spot is pointed out where our Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene as a gardener, and a little beyond it is the Latin Chapel of the Apparition, which commemorates the appearance of Christ to his mother after the Resurrection. Behind the chapel is the Monastery of the Franciscans who live within the church, and in the adjacent sacristy are kept the sword and spurs of Godfrey de Bouillon. Directly east of the Sepulchre is the large Greek church, which occupies the site of the church of the Crusaders, destroyed by fire in 1808. It is profusely decorated, and contains a broken column said to mark the centre or navel of the earth. The church is separated from the aisles that surround it by a partition wall, through which a door leads to the two Greek chapels of the " Prison" and the " Bonds" of Christ. This portion of the church appears to have been little damaged by the fire. Passing along the north aisle, the first chapel belongs to the Greeks, and is dedicated to Longinus, the soldier who pierced Jesus' side with a spear; beyond this is a closed doorway, which once formed the eastern entrance to the church ; and then the Armenian Chapel of the " Parting of the Vestments." Still further, at the east end of the south aisle, is the Greek Chapel of the " Crowning with Thorns," which contains the THE CHAPEL IN THE CAVE OF THE CROSS, Called " The Chapel of the Invention {i.e. the finding) of the Cross.' 22 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. " Column of the Derision," a fragment of a granite column on which Christ is said to have sat when he was crowned with thorns and mocked by those that stood near. In the same chapel is also kept a crown of thorns, made from the species of shrub which is supposed by tradition to have been that which supplied the original crown. Between the two last-mentioned chapels PILGRIMS OF THE GREEK CHURCH BUYING CANDLES, To be lighted by the " Holy Fire " in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, at the celebration of the Easter Festival. a flight of steps leads down from the east aisle to the Chapel of Helena, a portion of the church which does not seem to have suffered during the fire (see page 19), The chapel is divided into three aisles by four stunted columns with heavy-looking capitals, which carry a dome that rises above the level of the courtyard of the Abyssinian Monastery, and gives light JERUSALEM. 23 to the chapel below. There are two apses containing altars dedicated respectively to St. Helena and the Penitent Thief. The position of the third apse is occupied by an opening through which a flight of steps leads down to the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross (see page 21). In the Chapel of St. Helena the place is pointed out where the Empress sat whilst the workmen were searching for the cross in the cave below, which appears to have been either an old cistern or a natural cavern artificially enlarged. It now contains an altar and a life-size statue of the Empress. According to tradition, the search instituted by the Empress Helena led to the discovery of the three crosses ; but, unfortunately, the tablet bearing the inscription had become detached, and it was at first impossible to distinguish the cross upon which our Saviour died. This difficulty was overcome by taking the three crosses to a noble lady of Jerusalem who was afflicted with an incurable illness ; the crosses of the thieves had no effect, but on being touched with the true cross her disease left her, and she sprang from her couch whole and well. Not far from the entrance to the church, and close to the " Stone of Unction," is the Chapel of Adam. Here Adam, and also Melchizedek, are supposed to have been buried. At the entrance to the chapel once stood the tombs of Godfrey and Baldwin ; and at its eastern end may be seen the rock of Calvary, with the rent made in it by the earthquake at the time of the Crucifixion. Doubts have frequently been raised with respect to the genuine character of the rock of Calvary, and it has even been stated that it was built up with blocks of granite ; but there can hardly be a doubt that the greater portion, if not the whole, is natural rock, the same limestone that is seen at the tombs of Joseph and Nicodemus, and in other places in the church. The floor of the Chapel of the " Exaltation of the Cross " is fifteen feet above that of the Rotunda, and here is shown the summit of Calvary and the hole in which the cross is said to have been placed. By the side of this chapel and on the same level, being supported by vaults, is the Latin Chapel of the Crucifixion, erected where Christ, according to tradition, was nailed to the cross. No description of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre would be complete without some notice of the ceremony of the " Holy Fire," which, to the disgrace of Eastern Christianity, is enacted at the present day, and we cannot do better than quote the graphic words of Dean Stanley : " The Chapel of the Sepulchre rises from a dense mass of pilgrims, who sit or stand wedged round it ; whilst round them, and between another equally dense mass, which goes round the walls of the church itself, a lane is formed by two lines, or rather two circles, of Turkish soldiers stationed to keep order. For the spectacle which is about to take place, nothing can be better suited than the form of the Rotunda, giving galleries above for the spectators and an open space below for the pilgrims and their festival. For the next two hours everything is tranquil. Nothing indicates what is coming, except that two or three pilgrims who have got close to the aperture keep their hands fixed in it with a clench never relaxed. It is about noon that this circular lane is suddenly broken through by a tangled group rushing violently round till they are caught by one of the Turkish soldiers. It seems 24 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. VIA DOLOROSA occupied by a race, a whirl, to be the belief of the Arab Greeks that unless they run round the Sepulchre a certain number of times the fire will not come. Possibly, also, there is some reminiscence of the funeral games and races round the tomb of an ancient chief. Accordingly, the night before, and from this time forward for two hours, a succession of gambols takes place, which an Englishman can only compare to a mixture of prisoner's base, football, and leap-frog, round and round the Holy Sepulchre. First he sees these tangled masses of twenty, thirty, fifty men, starting in a run, catching hold of each other, lifting one of themselves on their shoulders, sometimes on their heads, and rushing on with him till he leaps off, and some one else succeeds ; some of them dressed in sheep-skins, some almost naked, one usually pre- ceding the rest as a fugleman, clapping his hands, to which they respond in like manner, adding also wild howls, of which the chief burden is ' This is the tomb of Jesus Christ ! — God save the Sultan ! — Jesus Christ has redeemed us ! ' What begins in the lesser groups soon grows in magnitude and extent, till at last the whole of the circle be- tween the troops is continually a torrent of these wild figures, like the witches' Sabbath in HOMO ARCH. JERUSALEM. 25 ' Faust,' wheeling round the Sepulchre. Gradually the frenzy subsides or is checked, the course is cleared, and out of the Greek Church on the east of the Rotunda a long procession HOUSE OF SAINT VERONICA, IN THE VIA DOLOROSA. The peasant walking up the street, wearing an embroidered abai, or cloak made of goats' hair, is carrying a plough. On the right sits a seller of fruit under an awning made of his cloak. M^ith embroidered banners, supplying in their ritual the want of images, begins to defile round the Sepulchre. " From this moment the excitement, which has been before confined to the runners and dancers, becomes universal. Hedged in by soldiers, the two huge masses of pilgrims still 5 26 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. remain in their places, all joining, however, in a wild succession of yells, through which are caught from time to time, strangely, almost affectingly, mingled, the chants of the procession — the solemn chants of the Church of Basil and Chrysostom mingled with the yells of savages. Thrice the procession passes round ; at the third time the two lines of Turkish soldiers join THE HOUSES OF THE RICH AND POOR MAN, DIVES AND LAZARUS. This is the most picturesque group of buildings in the Via Dolorosa. In the foreground are a Bedouin mounted on a camel laden with forage, and an Ashkenazi Jew conversing with a water-seller. and fall in behind. One great movement sways the multitude from side to side. The crisis of the day is now approaching. The presence of the Turks is believed to prevent the descent of fire, and at this point it is that they are driven, or consent to be driven, out of the Church. In a moment the confusion as of a battle and a victory pervades the Church. In every JERUSALEM. 27 direction the raging mob bursts in upon the troops, who pour out of the Church at the south-east corner. 71ie procession is broken through, the banners stagger and waver. They stagger, and waver, and fall, amidst the flight of priests, bishops, and standard-bearers hither and thither before the tremendous s rush. In one small but compact band the Bishop of Petra (who is on this occasion the Bishop of 'the Fire,' the repre- sentative of the patriarch) is hurried to the Chapel of the Sepulchre, and the door is closed behind him. The whole church is now one heaving sea of heads. One vacant ^ spot alone is left — a narrow lane from the aijerture S '',!'-'"' A SHOEMAKER'S SHOP, JERUSALEM. Mohammedan shoemakers at work. 28 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. on the north side of the chapel to the wall of the church. By the aperture itself stands a priest to catch the fire ; on each side of the lane hundreds of bare arms are stretched out like the branches of a leafless forest — like the branches of a forest quivering in some violent tempest ..... " At last the moment comes. A bright flame as of burning wood appears inside the hole — the light, as every educated Greek knows and acknowledges, kindled by the bishop within — the light, as every pilgrim believes, of the descent of God himself upon the Holy Tomb. Any distinct feature or incident is lost in the universal whirl of excitement which envelops the church as slowly, gradually, the fire spreads from hand to hand, from taper to taper, through that vast multitude, till at last the whole edifice, from gallery to gallery and through the area below, is one wide blaze of thousands of burning candles. It is now that, according to some accounts, the bishop or patriarch is carried out of the chapel in triumph, on the shoulders of the people, in a fainting state, ' to give the impression that he is overcome by the glory of the Almighty, from whose immediate presence he is supposed to come.' It is now that the great rush to escape from the rolling smoke and suffocating heat, and to carry the lighted tapers into the streets and houses of Jerusalem, through the one entrance to the church, leads at times to the violent pressure which in 1834 cost the lives of hundreds. For a short time the pilgrims run to and fro, rubbing the fire against their faces and breasts to attest its supposed harmlessness. But the wild enthusiasm terminates from the moment that the fire is communicated ; and perhaps not the least extraordinary part of the spectacle is the rapid and total subsidence of a frenzy so intense — the contrast of the furious agitation of the morning with the profound repose of the evening, when the church is once again filled — through the area of the Rotunda, the Chapels of Copt and Syrian, the subterranean Church of Helena, the great nave of Constantine's basilica, the stairs and platform of Calvary itself, with the many churches above — every part, except the one Chapel of the Latin Church, filled and overlaid by one mass of pilgrims, wrapt in deep sleep and waiting for the midnight service. " Such is the Greek Easter — the greatest moral argument against the identity of the spot which it professes to honour — stripped, indeed, of some of its most revolting features, yet still, considering the place, the time, and the intention of the professed miracle, probably the most off"ensive imposture to be found in the world." Intimately connected with those historical and legendary events, that have found a local habitation within the walls of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, are the traditions which during the course of centuries have clustered round certain spots in the narrow, crooked streets that lead from the Turkish Barracks, north of the Haram esh Sherif, to the church — the stations of the Via Dolorosa. The course of the Via Dolorosa depends on the site of the Praetorium, or residence of Pilate, and this has never been satisfactorily ascertained. At one period the Praetorium was supposed to have stood on the eastern hill, Moriah ; at another on the western, the modern Zion ; and it was not till the close of the crusading period that its present position was assigned to it, and the first station of the Via Dolorosa was located JERUSALEM. 29 in the above-mentioned Turkish Barracks (see page 30). The second station is in the street below, where, at the foot of the Scala Santa, which led to the Judgment Hall, the cross was laid upon Christ. A few paces westward the street is spanned by the Ecce Homo Arch (see page 24), which marks the spot where Pilate brought Jesus forth " wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe," and presented Him to the multitude with the memorable words, " Behold the man ! " (John xix. 5). The arch has all the appearance of a Roman triumphal arch of the time of Hadrian. It consists of a large central arch, with a smaller one on the north side which has been included in and forms the eastern termination of the Church of the Convent of the Sisters of Zion. Following the street downwards to the valley the third station is reached, a broken column near the Austrian Hospice which indicates the place where Christ fell under the cross. A little lower down is the house of Lazarus (see page 26), and the fourth station, where Christ met the Virgin Mary ; and then follow the house of Dives, with its handsome doorway, and the fifth station, where, our Lord having fallen for the second time, Simon of Cyrene took up the cross. A short ascent leads to the house of St. Veronica, the sixth station (see page 25). The road now ascends to the street which connects the Bazaars with the Damascus Gate, and here at the crossing is shown the seventh station, the so-called " Porta Judiciaria." The eighth station, where Christ addressed the women who accompanied him with the words, " Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me," is at the Monastery of St. Caralombos ; the ninth station, where He fell for the third time, is in front of the Coptic Convent ; the tenth, within the church, marks the spot where He was undressed ; the eleventh where He was nailed to the cross; the twelfth where the cross was raised ; the thirteenth where He was taken down from the cross ; and the fourteenth the Sepulchre itself It is, perhaps, needless to add that the buildings along the Via Dolorosa are modern, and that the " stations " themselves have been moved from place to place in the city whenever necessity or convenience required their removal. Not far from the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the old gateway which formerly led into the pile of buildings belonging to the Knights of St. John, and which now, surmounted by the Prussian eagle, gives access to the ground presented by the Sultan to Prussia on the occasion of the visit of the Crown Prince to Jerusalem in 1869. The arch is semicircular, and when perfect must have been a beautiful specimen of twelfth-century work. Round the arch is a series of figures in stone, now much mutilated, but once representing the months. February is indicated by a man pruning, July by a reaper, August by a thresher, September by a grape-gatherer, &c. In the centre are the sun and moon — " Sol " a half figure holding a disc on high, " Luna " a female with a crescent. Above the arch is a cornice enriched with figures of lions and other animals, carved with great spirit, apparently by the same man who cut those in the cornice above the Chapel of the Egyptian Mary, near the door of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In the close vicinity of the arch is the minaret of the Mosque of Omar (see page 35), erected 141 7 a.d., and supposed to mark the place where Omar prayed when he entered Jerusalem after its capitulation. The mosque occupies the site of the PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. MASJED EL MAJAHIDIN— MOSQUE OF THE KNIGHTS OF THE CRESCENT. Turkish Barracks, commonly called the Tower of Antonia. The cactus and caper-bush growing on the wall on the right are especially characteristic of mural vegetation in Jerusalem. JERUSALEM. 31 Kubbet Dirka, built by a nephew of Saladin in the thirteenth century. Extensive excavations have been made by the German Government in the old home of the Hospitallers. The church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, known as Maria Latina, the monastery of the same name, and portions of the Hospice of the Knights of St. John, have been cleansed of the rubbish and filth which encumbered them, and much of interest has been brought to light. The south wall has a staircase attached to it which gives access to the cloisters, and to the old refectory recently fitted up as a German Protestant Chapel at the private cost of the German Emperor. The other buildings are being repaired or rebuilt as schools and other establishments for the use of the German community at Jerusalem, and the Church of Maria Latina is to be restored in the original style. From the Bazaars, which lie immediately east of the old Hospice of the Knights of St. John, a street runs directly to the Bab el Amud (Gate of the Column), commonly known as the Damascus Gate (see page 41). This, the most picturesque of the city gateways, through which passes the great road to Nablus and Damascus, is the work of Sultan Suleiman, and dates from the sixteenth century. The gateway which preceded it was known in the twelfth century as that of St. Stephen, from the Church of St. Stephen, which then stood a few yards distant without the walls, on the place where the first Christian martyr is supposed to have been stoned. The scene of St. Stephen's martyrdom is now shown on the east side of the city without the present St. Stephen's Gate. The Damascus Gate is built over an older gateway, possibly as old as the time of Hadrian, which can just be seen rising above the rubbish. Flanking the gate are two towers built with stones taken from the ancient walls, and perhaps resting on the foundations of the older walls of the city. * The Bazaars stretch southwards from the Church of Maria Latina to David Street. They are not remarkable for architectural beauty or for the value of the wares offered for sale, but in the early morning they are filled with a busy throng amidst which representatives of almost every nationality may be found. This is especially the case at Easter, when the population of Jerusalem is for two or three weeks apparently doubled by the presence of thousands of pilgrims. Christians and Moslems. For at this season Moslem devotees come from all parts of the Turkish Empire and even from Lidia to pray within the sacred enclosure on Mount Moriah, the Haram esh Sherif, and to visit the reputed Tomb of Moses at the north-west of the Dead Sea. Probably this pilgrimage was instituted to counterbalance the great influx of Christians, especially of the Greek and Oriental Churches, who come from all parts of Russia and Greece and from remote Turkish provinces, to attend the Easter services in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (see page 22) and to bathe in the river Jordan. This is the harvest time for the people of Jerusalem. Not only is every khan, convent, and hotel crowded, but tents are pitched outside the walls, while in all available open spaces within the city the poorer pilgrims make themselves at home, cooking their simple food in the open air and resting at night under the stars. Men, women, and children, wrapped in their * The following pages (to page 37), describing the Bazaars and Markets of Jerusalem, are contributed by Miss Mary Eliiia Rogers. 32 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. travelling rugs, crowd together in family groups till they are hardly distinguishable from their baggage. A favourite site for a bivouac is the open space just within the Jaffa Gate; but pilgrims and wayfarers who select this spot must move at a very early hour in the morning, to make way for the peasants who come from the neighbouring villages with daily supplies of fruit, A GROCER'S SHOP, JERUSALEM. Two peasant women seated in the foreground, and a man of Silwan (Siloam) carrying a patched goat's skm filled with water from Job's Well. vegetables, and poultry for Jerusalem, This open space probably represents the " market-place" mentioned by Josephus as being situated on the western hill, prior to the capture of the city by the Romans ; and here the wholesale fruit and vegetable market is now held every day soon after sunrise. Dusky women of Bethany and Siloam, in long blue or white gowns, with bright-coloured kerchiefs tied round their heads, bring large baskets full of cucumbers, JERUSALEM. 33 tomatoes and onions, and other garden produce, while from more distant villages, especially Bethlehem and Artas, troops of donkeys come laden with enormous cauliflowers and turnips, guided by boys in white shirts girdled with broad red leather belts. The pleasant-looking A STREET CAFE, JERUSALEM. A Bedouin and peasant playing at a game called dameh. Bethlehem women, wearing crimson and yellow striped or blue gowns with long white linen veils, carry on their heads baskets of grapes, figs, prickly pears, pomegranates, and apricots, or whatever fruit is in season. Sometimes this market-place is almost blocked up with piles of melons, or with oranges and lemons from Jaffa, and in the early summer time roses are sold 6 34 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. here by weight to the makers of conserves and attar of roses. Hotel-keepers and servants from the various convents come here to make their bargains, and turbaned greengrocers and itinerant vendors of fruit come to buy their stock for the day. Soon the place is crowded, and the bustle of buying and selling begins. No purchase is effected without a considerable amount of contention. The seller does not usually price the goods, but waits for an offer. The first offer is always absurdly low. The seller then names an exorbitantly high price. For instance, a dignified-looking shopkeeper, wearing a white turban, will offer three piastres for a large basket full of tomatoes. The girl in charge answers indignantly, " I will carry my tomatoes back to Siloam rather than take less than fifteen !" — " O thou most greedy of the greedy, I will give no more than six ! " — " O possessor of a tightly closed hand, I will not take less than twelve ! How shall I buy the rice for my mother if I give away the fruits of her garden?" Finally she obtains seven and a half piastres for her tomatoes, and goes away perfectly satisfied, having argued with pertinacity for the half piastre. - In an hour or two the market people disperse, and only a few retail sellers of fruit or of rude pottery remain. The illustration on page i gives an excellent idea of this place as it appears during the midday hours. As soon as the market is over the crowds increase in the bazaars. The narrow bazaar, of which a bird's-eye glimpse is shown on page 9, is called David Street. It opens into the market-place, and is paved with shallow steps as smooth as polished marble, descending towards the east, and generally littered with vegetable refuse. The shops on each side of the way are like large cupboards raised one or two feet from the ground. Within these recesses the shopkeepers sit at their ease gravely smoking in the midst of their wares. Damascus and Aleppo silks, Manchester prints and calicoes, Constantinople and Swiss muslin coloured veils, are displayed, and farther on pipes and hardware and dried fruits may be found. To the right are the bazaars leading to the Jewish quarter, and here most of the busiest workers congregate — tailors, embroiderers, tinsmiths, and shoemakers. The engraving on page 27 gives a good idea of a shoemaker's shop in one of the most narrow but busy bazaars in the city. It is close to an old archway overgrown with cactus and henbane. Two men are engaged at work. The wearer of the earrings, the master, is seated at a bench formed of a solid block of wood, and is vigorously using his mallet to beat into solidity a piece of leather for the sole of a shoe, while from the bowl of the neglected narghileh at his side a long curling column of smoke rises towards the dilapidated roof, and a lesser column issues from the mouthpiece which rests on the edge of the stall. The poor old short-sighted assistant squatting on the floor, and making a bench of his left leg, is patiently plying his awl and his waxed thread. The interior of the shop is fitted up with rude shelves, on which are ranged in rows heavy red shoes with pointed and turned-up toes and a few clumsy-looking lasts. Outside, on the large smooth round stones (which give a fair example of the usual kind of pavement on level ground in Jerusalem), may be seen the shoes of the occupants of the shop, two water-coolers of native pottery, and a roll of leather soaking in a bowl of water. JERUSALEM. It must not be supposed that this is the best shoe- maker's shop to be found in the city. There is one not far off where rows of large red boots, the pride of the Bedouin chieftain, and red slippers and shoes of all sizes, may be found, and another in which may be purchased delicately made Damascus socks of yellow kid, like boots, to be worn by ladies under their yellow shoes. It is one of the greatest delights of a peasant to put on a pair of new shoes, and ENTRANCE TO THE HOSPICE OF ST. JOHN AND MINARET OF OMAR. A muezzin in the balcony chanting the call to prayer. Peasants loading a camel in the foreground, and a townswoman wearing a white izzar and dark veil in the distance. 36 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. especially to see all his family newly shod for a fete day. In the same neighbourhood the cotton-cleaners are found, one of whom, a Jew, is represented on page 44, busy at work. Cotton pods are brought to him in a sack. After weighing them, he separates the husks and seeds from the cotton with his bow-string, which he beats vigorously with his mallet. On a tray, mounted on a low stool, the seeds and pods may be seen ; these will be weighed with the cotton in the presence of the owner when the task is completed. When there is sufficient space a second bow is used, and thus a double spring is obtained. The smaller bow is attached to a beam overhead, and to this is suspended a large harp-shaped bow, called a mandaf, the long string of which on being beaten into the cotton quickly converts it into fleecy clouds. The labour of holding the bow is avoided by thus suspending it, and the work is accomplished with surprising rapidity. Cotton-cleaners are frequently employed in private houses to purify and lighten mat- tresses and divan cushions by the same process. In every district a grocer's shop may be found, and on page 32 a typical one may be seen. The grocer in his striped gown and coloured turban sits on his shop-board quietly smoking, for it is nearly midday, and there is not much business to attend to. His stock consists of baskets of Egyptian rice and rice from the Jordan, a good supply of loaf sugar and coffee, dried fruits, pistachio nuts, walnuts, olives, salt, pepper, and all kinds of spices. A laden camel is just coming into the picture, making a growling noise and ringing his bells. The right foot of the rider alone is visible. In advance of the camel comes a water-carrier from Siloam, with a patched goatskin filled with water from the Bir Eyub (Job's Well). He rattles his brass cups, and cries out in a shrill voice, " May God compassionate me ! " Two peasant women with dishevelled hair and yellow kerchiefs bound round their stiff red cloth caps are resting near the shop. They have rings in their noses and on their fingers, but their feet are bare. Peasant women of Judaea are not generally attractive in appearance. The features of the townspeople are much more refined, and there are many women and girls, both Christian and Moslem, in Jerusalem whose coloured muslin veils hide really pretty faces. Jewesses do not veil themselves, but the younger and prettier among them are kept very much out of sight. From David Street a turning towards the north, called Christian Street, leads to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and here there are a few European shops, kept by Maltese, Italians, and Germans, in the midst of the truly Oriental barbers, pipe-makers, bakers' shops, and cafes. A good example of one of the less important street cafes is shown on page 33. All that is absolutely necessary is a nook in which a fire can be made for the preparation of pipes and coffee, a supply of coffee cups, narghilehs, and long pipes, and a few rush seats ; but the proprietor adds greatly to the attractions of his establishment if he can supply a board for the game called dameh, at which a Bedouin and a peasant are represented playing in the illustration. In the evening a story-teller or a singer may generally be found here entertaining a group of smokers. JERUSALEM. 37 A turning eastward out of Christian Street leads through dirty crooked streets of stairs and arched passages, dark and dusty, to the most important bazaars and khans, which are in the centre of the city (see page 71). Here, under lofty arcades, the butchers', fruiterers', oil, grain, and leather markets are held. The butchers call out loudly, " Oh, every one that hath money let him come and buy ! " and " Oh, such a one, come and buy!" The cry of the sellers of fruit appears to be more disinterested, for they often say to a passer-by, " Take of our fruit with- out money and without price ! " but immediately afterwards they will ask him an exorbitant sum for it ! Leaving the bazaars and turn- ing to the left up David Street, we approach the Haram esh Shcrif, one of the most sacred and ancient of all STAIRCASE LEADING TO THE CHURCH OF ST. JOHN. A Greek priest descending the stairs. 38 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. holy places. Within its area was, according to tradition, the scene of Abraham's sacrifice (Gen. xxii. 3 — 14); and there was certainly the threshing floor which David bought from Araunah the Jebusite for fifty shekels of silver, and upon which he built an altar and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. There, too, were the successive temples of Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Herod, the fortress of Antonia, and possibly the palace of Solomon ; and there at the present day are the beautiful " Dome of the Rock " and the Mosque el Aksa, and the buildings which were once the home of the Knights Templars. All traces of the altar and of the temples of the Jews have long since disappeared, and their exact positions have for years been amongst the most fiercely contested points of Jerusalem topography. In the midst of all this ruin and desolation we can, however, feel that the hill is the same Mount Moriah round which cluster so many memories connected with Jewish history, with the earlier and later years of our Lord's life, and with the ministry of the Apostles, and that somewhere on its surface stood the building which excited the admiration and astonishment of the Queen of Sheba. The sacred ground, or Temple Platform, was enclosed and supported by massive retaining walls which are described by the Jewish historian in glowing terms. The enormous height of these walls and the magnificence of the masonry, almost justifying the description of Josephus, have been fully brought to light by the excavations undertaken by Captain (now Lieut.-Col.) Warren, R.E., for the Palestine Exploration Fund. At one corner the solid masonry rises to a height of one hundred and eighty feet, at another to a height of one hundred and thirty-eight feet, above the ground ; and at one point in the wall a great stone, thirty-eight feet nine inches long, four feet high, and ten feet deep, has been used at a height of eighty-five feet from the surface. Partially concealed as the walls are, here by ninety-five feet, there by sixty feet of rubbish, they still fill the traveller with admiration, and they must, when fresh from the builder's hands, have been the finest specimens of mural masonry in the world. It was with such walls before their eyes that the astonished Jews replied to our Lord, " Forty and six years was this Temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days ?" Above all this stood the Temple, of pure white glittering stone, covered in part with plates of gold, and surrounded by its courts and cloisters — a tout ensemble unsurpassed in magnificence by any temple of ancient times. One of the finest fragments of the ancient masonry is that at the south-west angle of the Haram esh Sherif, but, unfortunately, only a comparatively small portion of the older work is visible above ground. No mortar has been used in building the wall, and the great blocks of stone are so beautifully fitted together that a penknife can hardly be introduced between the joints. The faces of the stones are also finely " dressed," and round the margin of each runs a chiselled draft from two to five inches wide and about a quarter of an inch deep. Thirty-nine feet north of the south-west angle is the fragment of an old arch known as " Robinson's Arch " (see page 72), from the fact that it was first brought to notice by the eminent American, Dr. Robinson, who may well be looked upon as the foremost pioneer JERUSALEM. 39 in the systematic and scientific exploration of Palestine. The arch is fifty feet long, and it had a span of forty-two feet. Portions of the three lower courses, in which are stones from nineteen to twenty-five feet long, alone remain, and these, from the appearance and position of the stones, evidently formed part of the original wall. The remaining stones of the arch were found lying, just as they fell, on a pavement of polished stone, more than forty feet beneath the surface of the ground, and near them a portion of the pier was also discovered. Under the pavement were the remains of an older arch, and lower still a remarkable rock- hewn channel for the conveyance of sweet water, which was in existence long before the Haram wall was built, and which may, perhaps, have been executed by order of King Hezekiah, who is known to have undertaken extensive works in connection with the water supply of Jerusalem. The position of " Robinson's Arch," and its dimensions, seem to indicate that it formed the first of a series of arches which supported a broad flight of steps leading from the Tyropoeon Valley to the centre aisle of the Royal Cloisters, " Stoa Basilica," which ran along the south wall of Herod's Temple. The arch may also mark the position of the fourth gate on the western side of the Temple, which Josephus says " led to the other city, where the road descended down into the valley by a great number of steps, and thence up again by the ascent." The "Stoa Basilica" was six hundred feet long and one hundred feet wide. It was divided into three aisles by one hundred and sixty-two Corinthian columns ; and the centre aisle was one hundred feet, the side aisles each fifty feet, high. The roofs were adorned with deep sculptures in wood ; the high part in the middle was of polished stone; and the whole was finished off with much magnificence. The dimensions of the cloisters, in plan and section, are almost identical with those which York Cathedral would present if the transepts were taken off the sides and added to the ends ; and it would be difficult to imagine a finer effect than that which would be produced by a flight of steps fifty feet wide, carried on arches, and at one point raised fifty feet above the ground, leading up to such a noble pile of buildings. At a distance of two hundred and seventy feet from the south-west angle there is a closed gateway in the wall called the Gate of Mohammed, but generally known as " Barclay's Gate," from its fortunate discoverer. Dr. Barclay, an American missionary to Palestine. The gateway, which is evidently one of those that Josephus describes as leading from the western cloisters of the Temple to the suburbs of the city, is partly concealed by rubbish ; but excava- tions have shown that it was about eighteen feet ten inches wide and twenty-eight feet nine inches high. The lintel of the gate is one enormous stone, and its sill is no less than forty- nine feet nine inches above the rock. The approach was probably by a solid ramp of earth. Immediately behind the closed entrance there is now a mosque, in which is shown the ring to which Mohammed fastened his mysterious steed, Al Borak, on the occasion of his famous night journey ; but the gateway formerly gave access to a vaulted passage, one of the approaches to Herod's Temple, which ran for sixty-nine feet in a direction at right angles to the wall, to a domed chamber or vestibule, and then, turning at right angles to the south. PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. JERUSALEM. 41 gained the Temple area by a ramp or flight of steps. North of " Barclay's Gate " is the well-known Wailing-place of the Jews, a small paved area in front of a portion of the retaining wall which is supposed by some writers to be the nearest point, without the enclosure, to the position of the " Holy of Holies." The pavement is at least seventy feet above the natural surface of the ground. Jews may often be seen sitting for hours at the Wailing-place bent in sorrowful meditation over the history of their race, and repeating oftentimes the words of the Seventy-ninth Psalm. On Fridays especially, Jews of both sexes, of all ages, and from all countries, assemble in large numbers to kiss the sacred stones and weep outside the precincts they may not enter (see page 43). About six hundred feet from the south-west angle, and not far from the Wailing- THE DAMASCUS GATE— BAB EL AMUD (GATE OF THE COLUMN). The northern entrance to Jerusalem. place, is "Wilson's Arch," one of the finest and most perfect remains in Jerusalem, named after the writer of these pages. The arch has the same span as "Robinson's Arch," and it formed part of the grand viaduct, of which other portions have been found, that connected Mount Moriah with the modern Mount Zion. West of the arch Captain Warren found a chamber, the " Masonic Hall," which may be a guard-house of the stormy period of the Maccabees, and a long subterranean gallery, which was apparently constructed to allow soldiers to pass freely and unnoticed from the Citadel, where Herod's palace was situated, to the Temple. This gallery appears to have been that which was used by Simon, son of Gioras, when, after the capture of Jerusalem by Titus, he passed from the 7 42 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. Upper City to the Temple area, and attempted to escape by appearing as a ghost to the Roman soldiers in the place where the Temple had stood. The principal approach to the Haram esh Sherif is by David Street, which passes over Wilson's Arch and enters the enclosure on a level, through a handsome double gate, of which the southern portal is called Bab es Silsileh (Gate of the Chain), and the northern Bab es Salam (Gate of Peace). At the bottom of the left jamb of the latter there is a massive stone with a marginal draft, the north end of which corresponds with the end of the great causeway arch beneath. The gate was built about 1492 a.d., and is ornamented with twisted columns, which were probably taken from some building erected by the Crusaders. In front of the gateway is a very beautiful fountain, which is supplied with water by the aqueduct from Solomon's Pools (see page 48). Beyond the Gate of the Chain is "Warren's Gate," named after Captain Warren, R.E., whose excavations have thrown so much light on the topographical features of ancient Jerusalem. The gate, which is unfortunately concealed by rubbish, led into a passage eighteen feet wide, and was, perhaps, the second gate which gave access to the suburbs from the west side of the Temple enclosure. A short distance to the north is Bab el Kattanin (Gate of the Cotton Merchants), a handsome Saracenic portal at the end of the old Cotton Bazaar, said to have been repaired in a.d. 1336. A flight of steps leads up to the gate, which tradition asserts to be the " Beautiful Gate " of the Temple, where Peter healed the lame man. From Wilson's Arch northwards to the Gate of the Seraglio the retaining wall can nowhere be seen ; but beneath the latter a portion has been found in a rock-hewn aqueduct, and near it Lieut. Conder, R.E., discovered the only masonry belonging to the original wall which is visible above the present surface of the Haram esh Sherif. This fragment is of great interest, as it has projecting pilasters and is similar in character to the masonry of the Haram wall, which encloses the last resting- place of the patriarchs at Hebron; it also shows that the outer walls of the Temple cloisters were built with pilasters, as represented in the restorations of Mr. Fergusson and the Count de VogUe. The north-west angle of the Haram esh Sherif has been cut out of the rock so as to leave escarpments from three to twenty-three feet high facing inwards on the north and west. There is here, in fact, a mass of rock, about one hundred feet thick, which is separated from the more northern hill of Bezetha by a ditch one hundred and sixty-five feet wide, and from twenty-six to thirty-three feet deep. Upon the rock stands a Turkish barrack, the successor, perhaps, of the Tower of Antonia, which Herod built to " secure and guard " the Temple. The tower, or castle, was of great extent, and played an important part during the siege of Jerusalem by Titus. It was on a rock fifty cubits high, which was covered from its foot with smooth stones, like the lower part of the Tower of David, so that " any one who would either try to get up or to go down it might not be able to hold his feet upon it." There were towers at each corner of the castle; that at the south-east was seventy cubits high, that it might overlook the Temple ; and that at JERUSALEM. 43 the south-west had passages to the Temple cloisters, by which the Temple guard went to its post, for, as Josephus adds, " the Temple was a fortress that guarded the city, as was the Tower of Antonia a guard to the Temple, and in that tower were the guards of those three." At the pre- sent day a pile of masonry in the street which runs west- ward along the north end of the Haram esh Sherif from St, Stephen's Gate is known as the " Tower of Antonia " (see page 30). This so- called tower appears to be part of an old mosque or church ; it has attached to it a small court, in which several Moslem celebrities are buried ; and the place is known to the native popu- lation of Jerusalem as the mosque and ceme- tery of those who fought against the Infidel, or, as we might call them. Knights of the Crescent. It was near this place that the distinguished French savant, M. Ganneau was fortunate enough to find one of the tablets of Herod's Temple, which, as Josephus tells us, forbade strangers to enter the sacred enclosure. The tablet bears an inscription in Greek to the following effect : " No stranger is to enter within the balustrade round the Temple and enclosure. Whoever is caught will be re- sponsible to himself for his death, which will ensue." The inscription throws light on the events described in Acts xxi. 26 et seq., during which Paul nearly lost his life. The Jews of Asia supposed that Paul had brought Trophimus, an Ephesian, into the Temple, and thus polluted the Holy Place. A tumult THE WAILING-PLACE OF THE JEWS. The west wall of the Haram, or Sacred Enclosure. On Fridays, after four o'clock, Jews and Jewesses assemble here for prayer, and bewail the downfall of Jerusalem. 44 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. arose, and the people were about to put Paul to death, when the commandant of the fortress Antonia, gathering a number of soldiers together, ran down and rescued him. The minaret which stands on the rock at the north-west angle was built about 1207 a.d. (see page 52). Amongst the stones used in its construction is a marble capital with mutilated figures repre- senting the " Presentation of Christ in the Temple," which was probably taken from the Chapel A JEWISH COTTON-CLEANER. Separating seeds from cotton by the ancient process of bowing it. of the Presentation, situated durina: the Latin Kinadom in the " Dome of the Rock," then called the " Templum Domini." On the left Simeon receives the infant Jesus from the hands of the Virgin ; on the rigrht is a fissure with a nimbus round its head, which seems to be intended for Joseph. The ditch alluded to as separating the rock on which the Turkish barrack stands from JERUSALEM. 45 the hill on the north has been and it can be seen in two vaulted passages or souterrains which lie beneath the street. At the end of one of the souterrains there is a rock-hewn aqueduct, from twenty to thirty feet high, which brought water from the north. It is an old and important work, but no one has yet been able to find the source from which it derived its supply of water. The eastern portion of the north side of the Haram esh Sherif is protected by the Birket Israil, known traditionally as the Pool of Bethesda. The reservoir is situated in a valley which takes its rise to the north of the city wall, and runs out into the Kedron valley about one hun- dred and forty-three feet south of the north-east angle of the Haram enclosure. The valley is now little more than a shallow depression, but excavations have shown that in the lower por- tions of its course it assumes the character of a deep ravine, and that its bed is no less than one hundred and forty feet below the surface of the Temple platform. The Birket Israil is three hundred and sixty feet long, one hundred and twenty- six feet wide, and eighty feet deep, but its great size can hardly be appreciated on account of the rubbish, which rises to a traced for some distance alone the line of the Via Dole STREET OF THE GATE OF THE CHAIN. A narrow picturesque street, with projecting lattice-work windows of many kinds. 46 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. height of thirty-five feet above the floor. At the west end are two parallel passages running westwards along the Haram wall, whence a flight of irregular steps leads down to the pool ; the east end is closed by a dam forty-five feet thick, which is also part of the city walls. No trace has yet been found of the system of conduits by which it was supplied with water. North of the Birket Israil (see page 66) is the street leading to St. Stephen's Gate, and imme- diately beyond it the Church of St. Anne, which was given by the Sultan Abdul Mejid to the French Emperor on the termination of the Crimean war. The church is built over the Grotto of St. Anne, an excavation in the rock remarkably like an old cistern, which is claimed by tradition as the home of St. Anne and the birthplace of the Virgin Mary. The building has been thoroughly repaired by the French, who have made no material alterations in the original edifice left by the Crusaders, and who have retained traces of the Moslem occupation in an Arabic inscription over the doorway and the mihrab, or prayer niche, which was cut in the south wall. The St. Stephen's Gate is called by the native Christians Bab Sitti Mariam (Gate of Our Lady Mary), from the circumstance that the road which passes through it leads to the tomb of the Virgin in the valley below. It dates from the restoration of the city walls by Sultan Suleiman. Above the doorway are two lions sculptured in stone in low relief. The first point of interest in the east wall of the Haram esh Sherif is the Golden Gate, an entrance to the sacred enclosure which has long been closed, in consequence of a Moslem tradition that when the Christians capture Jerusalem they will make their triumphal entry by it. South of the Golden Gate is a postern, now closed with masonry, which is called by the Arab historian, Mejr ed Din, the Gate of Borak. Beside it there are traces of an old fountain, once probably fed from the water in the cisterns of the Haram. From St. Stephen's Gate to the postern, and even beyond it, the ground at the foot of the east wall is occupied by the Mohammedan cemetery, and closely covered with tombs — plain rectangular masses of masonry with rounded tops ; they are generally badly built and soon fall to pieces, leaving nothing but a heap of ruins. Here and there may be seen a head- stone with a roughly hewn turban, and in some cases the tombs are protected from the weather by a square building pierced with arches and surmounted by a dome (see pages 67 and 69). Moslem funerals pass into the Haram esh Sherif by the " Gate of the Tribes," and enter the Dome of the Rock by the " Gate of Paradise." After a few short prayers the procession passes out of the mosque by the gate that opens in the direction of Mecca, and leaves the Haram by the way it entered ; it then proceeds to the grave. No coffin is used ; the body is simply wrapped in a sheet and carried to the grave in a wooden box by six men. A man bearing a palm branch heads the procession, and the mourners follow the body in a confused crov/d without any order or arrangement. At the grave a few verses of the Koran are recited, and if the deceased is rich alms are distributed to the poor. The imposing mass of masonry at the south-east angle of the Haram esh Sherif, which overhangs the Kedron valley, has always excited the admiration of travellers. Its foundation-stones bear the Phoenician letters which at the time of their discovery attracted JERUSALEM. 47 so much attention. The letters are either cut into or painted on the stones. The incised characters are cut to a depth of three-eighths of an inch ; the painted characters, some of which are five inches high, were probably put on with a brush. They are in red paint, apparently vermilion, and easily rubbed off with a wetted finger. These g rap hit i were examined by the late Mr. Emanuel Deutsch, who says : " The signs cut or painted were on the stones when they were first laid in their present places. They do not represent any inscription. They are Phoenician, I consider them to be partly letters, partly numerals, and partly special quarry signs or masons' marks. Some of them were recognisable at once as well-known Phoenician characters; others, hitherto unknown in Phoenician epigraphy, I had the rare satisfaction of being able to identify on absolutely undoubted Phoenician structures in Syria." The pottery obtained during the excavations consisted of a small jar found in a hole cut out of the rock, " standing upright, as though it had been purposely placed there," and many fragments of lamps and other utensils. Dr. Birch, the keeper of oriental antiquities at the British Museum, states that it is just possible that this jar, which resembles Egyptian ware in shape, might be as old as the fourth or fifth century B.C. Mr. Greville Chester, the well- known antiquary, observes, in the " Recovery of Jerusalem," that the vase " is of pale red ware, and of a common Grseco- Phoenician type." Amongst the fragments were found several broken lamps of red or brownish ware, with one, two, or three lips, which " seem adapted for the burning of fat rather than oil." They are similar in design to lamps that have been found in Cyprus and Malta ; and Mr. A. W. Franks, of the British Museum, considers them " to be of late date — not earlier than the second century before the Christian era." The south-east angle is by some writers believed to be one of the oldest portions of the wall and the work of Solomon ; whilst others, from the peculiar character of the masonry, believe it to have been built by Herod Agrippa, or to be even as late as the reign of Justinian. The most remarkable features of the south wall of the Haram esh Sherif are the large stones known as the " Great Course," and the Single, Double, and Triple Gates. The "Great Course " is a course of drafted stones about six feet high, which extends continuously for a distance of seventy feet west of the south-east angle, and can be traced thence at intervals to the Triple Gate. The stones have sometimes been supposed to be of great age, but in our opinion they are more probably connected with the great works which were undertaken at Jerusalem by order of Justinian. Procopius, in describing the Mary Church of Justinian, says that the fourth part of the ground required for the building was wanting towards the south and east ; the builders, therefore, laid out their foundations at the extremity of the sloping ground, and raised up a wall until they reached the pitch of the hill. Above this they con- structed a series of arched vaults, by means of which they raised the ground to the level of the rest of the enclosure. Procopius also speaks of the immense size of the stones and of the skill with which they were dressed. This describes exactly what is found at the south- east angle : solid masonry to the level of the top of the hill under the Triple Gate, then vaults to raise the level to that of the area, and the " Great Course " to mark the end of the solid 48 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. FOUNTAIN OK THE GATli OK TH1-: CHAIN — DAB KS SILSILEH. Supplied with water from Solomon's Pools. JERUSALEM. 49 masonry. The Single Gate, the nearest of the three gateways to the south-east angle, is a closed entrance of comparatively modern date, which at one time led directly into the vaults within the Haram, known as " Solomon's Stables." Beneath the gate Captain Warren found the " Great Passage," a narrow way from twelve to eighteen feet high and sixty-nine feet long, which lies beneath one of the aisles of Solomon's Stables. Next in order is the Triple Gate, which consists of three arched portals each thirteen feet wide. The openings are closed with small masonry, but they formerly gave access to three parallel passages, which, after running some dis- tance beneath the surface of the Haram, are blocked with rubbish. The Double Gate consists of two entrances, now closed, which formerly opened into a vestibule, whence there was an ascent to the Haram area by a THE SUMMER PULPIT, PLATFORM OF THE DOME OF THE ROCK. Showing a portion of the arcaded approach from the south. The pigeons in the foreground are characteristic of the place. vaulted passage at right angles with the line of the wall. The gates are each eighteen feet wide, and they are covered with large lintels, which have been cracked by the pressure of the masonry above, and are now supported by columns. Immediately under the lintels are two ornamented arches, which form no part of the wall, but are simply fastened on to it with metal 50 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. cramps. The style of ornament is similar to that of the Golden Gate. The Double Gate is undoubtedly a relic of the Temple of Herod. Close to the eastern lintel is a dedicatory inscription to Hadrian, built into the wall upside down, which some writers suppose belonged to the statue erected to that emperor in the Temple area. Allusion has frequently been made to Captain Warren's excavations for the Palestine Exploration Fund. Those excavations are, for their extent, for the boldness with which they were conceived, and for the skill with which they were carried out, without a parallel in the history of archaeological exploration. It will not be out of place to give here, in the explorer's own words, a description of one of the shafts by means of which he penetrated through the rubbish which conceals the foundations of the Temple platform. "On Friday (October nth, 1867), having arrived at a depth of seventy-nine feet, the men were breaking up a stone at the bottom of the shaft. Suddenly the ground gave way ; down went the stone and the hammer, the men barely saving themselves. They at once rushed up, and told the sergeant they had found the bottomless pit. I went down to the spot and examined it, and, in order that you may have an idea of the extent of our work, I will give you a description of our descent. " The shaft mouth is on the south side of the Sanctuary wall, near the south-west angle, among the prickly pears. Beside it, to the east, lying against the Sanctuary wall, is a large mass of rubbish that has been brought up ; while over the mouth itself is a triangular gin with iron wheel attached, with guy for running up the excavated soil. Looking down the shaft one sees that it is lined for the first twenty feet with frames four feet six inches in the clear. Farther down, the Sanctuary wall and soil cut through is seen, and a man standing at what appears to be the bottom. An order is given to this man, who repeats it, and then, faintly, is heard a sepulchral voice answering as it were from another world. Reaching down to the man who is visible is a thirty-four feet rope ladder, and, on descending by it, one finds he is standing on a ledge which the ladder does not touch by four feet. This ledge is the top of a wall running north and south and abutting on the Sanctuary wall ; its east face just cuts the centre of the shaft, which has to be canted off about two feet towards the east, just where some large loose stones jut out in the most disagreeable manner. Here five more frames have been fixed to keep these stones steady. On peering down from this ledge one sees the Sanctuary wall with its projecting courses until they are lost in the darkness below, observing also, at the same time, that two sides of the shaft are cut through the soil and are self- supporting. Now to descend this second drop the ladder is again required ; accordingly, having told the man at the bottom to get under cover, it is lowered to the ledge, from whence it is found that it does not reach to the bottom by several feet. It is therefore lowered the required distance, and one has to reach it by climbing down hand over hand for about twelve feet. On passing along, one notes the marvellous joints of the Sanctuary wall stones, and also, probably, gets a few blows on skull and knuckles from falling pebbles. Just on reaching the bottom one recollects there is still a pit of unknown depth to be explored, and cautiously JERUSALEM. 51 straddles across it. Then can be seen that one course in the Sanctuary wall, near the bottom, is quite smooth all over, the stone being finely dressed, all other courses being only well dressed round the drafts. One also sees two stout boards lying against the Sanctuary wall, under which the men retire whenever an accidental shower of stones renders their position dangerous. One is now at a depth of seventy-nine feet from the surface, and from here we commence the exploring of the ' bottomless pit' After dropping a rope down we found that it was only six feet deep, though it looked black enough for anything. Climbing down we found ourselves in a passage running south from the Sanctuary, four feet high by two feet wide, and we explored this passage. It is of rough rubble masonry, with flat stones at top similar to the aqueduct from Triple Gate, but not so carefully constructed. The floor and sides are very muddy, as if water gathers there during the rainy season. " It struck me that it might be an overflow aqueduct from the Temple, and that there might be a water-conduit underneath. We scrambled along for a long way on our feet, our skulls and spines coming in unhappy contact with the passage roof. After about two hundred feet we found that the mud reached higher up, and we had to crawl by means of elbows and toes. Gradually the passage got more and more filled up, and our bodies could barely squeeze through, and there did not appear sufficient air to support us for any length of time, so that, having advanced four hundred feet, we commenced a difficult retrograde movement, having to get back half-way before we could turn our heads round. . . . This passage is on a level with the foundations of the Haram wall, eighty-five feet below the surface of the ground. . . . We have sunk a shaft three hundred and fifty feet to the south of the Sanctuary wall, and have had the good fortune, at a depth of sixty feet, to drop directly upon our passage. . . . The passage was cleared out for a total distance of six hundred feet from the Sanctuary wall and was then abandoned. . . . This aqueduct appears to have existed before the south-west angle of the Sanctuary, and to have been cut across and rendered useless when the wall was built." The Haram esh Sherif has a general elevation of two thousand four hundred and nineteen feet above the Mediterranean, and its surface is almost level, if we except the raised platform in the centre, a deep hollow in front of the Golden Gate, and a slight rise towards the north- west corner. It has been formed by cutting the rock away in some places, by building supporting vaults in others, and by filling in hollows with large stones and rubbish. The dimensions are — north side, one thousand and forty-two feet ; east side, one thousand five hundred and thirty feet ; south side, nine hundred and twenty-two feet ; and west side, one thousand six hundred and one feet. The enclosure contains thirty-five acres, and is nearly one mile in circuit. In the north-west corner the natural rock is either visible or but slightly covered with earth over some extent of ground, and the surface has been artificially formed by cutting down the rock under the Turkish barrack, and then entirely removing the upper strata as far as the north-west angle of the raised platform, where the rock is scarped, and rises nearly to the 52 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. level of the pavement on which the Dome of the Rock stands. Between the corner and the platform the ridge of Moriah is in one place very narrow. Here the rock gives place to turf, and there are indications which point to the existence of a ditch cut in the solid rock. The north-east corner has been formed by filling up the deep ravine, which has already NORTH-WEST CORNKK t)F THE HARAM ESH SHERIF. Showing the highest minaret of the Sanctuary, and the old Serai, which is now used as a state prison. been alluded to as that in which the Birket Israil (Pool of Bethesda) is situated. The south- west corner, as far as we know at present, is, with the exception of the passage from Barclay's Gate, alluded to above, filled up in a solid manner with large stones and earth. On the south JERUSALEM. 53 side of the Haram esh Sherif is the Mosque el Aksa, and in front of it is a level space ORATORIES ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE HARAM ESH SHERIF. shaded by fine trees. In the centre of the Haram is the raised platform on which stands the Kubbet es Sakhra (Dome of the Rock), erected over the sacred rock from which Mohammed 54 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. is said to have ascended into heaven. The platform has four sides, but none of its sides are equal, nor are any of its angles right angles. Its general level is about sixteen feet above that of the Haram esh Sherif, and the top of the "Sakhra" is nearly five feet higher, or two thousand four hundred and forty feet above the Mediterranean. The platform is paved with flat slabs of stone. On the west and south-west it is partly supported by vaults. In other directions the rock rises up to, or nearly up to, the level of the pavement. The most interesting feature is the " Sakhra," or Rock, to which the beautiful building gives an air of mystery and a prominence that it would not possess if the pavement were removed and the ground were restored to its original form. The platform is approached by several flights of steps, at the top of which are screens supported by light columns, called " mawazin," or balances. (See pages 49, 53, and 63.) The Kubbet es Sakhra (Dome of the Rock) is an octagonal building, each side of which measures sixty-six feet. Internally it is one hundred and fifty-two feet in diameter. The great rock, the " Sakhra," which is in the centre, is encircled by four massive piers and twelve columns ; three columns being placed between each pair of piers. They are united by arches and support the beautifully proportioned dome, which is sixty-six feet in diameter at its base. An octagonal screen, composed of eight piers and sixteen columns, divides the remaining space into two encircling aisles ; the outer aisle being thirteen and the inner one thirty feet wide. (See page 59.) There is a door in each of the four faces fronting the cardinal points — on the north, Bab el Jenne (Gate of Paradise) ; Bab el Gharby (West Gate) ; Bab el Kible (South Gate) ; and the Bab en Neby DaCid (Gate of the Prophet David). Each of the doorways had in front of it an open porch of columns, but, with the exception of'^that before the Bab el Kible, they have been closed in and cased with marble. The chambers thus formed are made use of by the attendants of the mosque. The doors are covered with plates of bronze, and have very fine old locks. The building consists of a basement sixteen feet high, pierced only by the four doors ; then a story of plain masonry, twenty feet in height, with seven round arches on each side, thirty-eight of which are pierced for windows, and the remaining eighteen are blind panels. The basement is cased with slabs of various coloured marble, which are fastened to the masonry by metal clamps run in with lead. The old round-headed arches are hidden by pointed arches probably dating from the sixteenth century. In course of time several of the pointed arches fell out, and the western faces became so ruinous that in 1873 the Turkish Government found it necessary to carry out extensive repairs. It was then that Mons. Ganneau discovered " that the parapet wall above the principal range of windows, which had always been believed to be solid, was in reality composed of a range of thirteen small arches on each face, each arch being adorned with a small dwarf pillar on each side. It may be assumed as certain that this arcade formed the front of a covered gallery, not only because no other view seems consistent with common sense, but because the description of it by John of Wlirzburg, made in the time of the JERUSALEM. 55 Crusades, will bear no other interpretation." Some of these arcades were at one time formed into semicircular niches with semi-domical heads, and the upper parts at least were richly ornamented with mosaics in coloured and gilt glass. The presence of mosaics outside the Kubbet es Sakhra is a fact of much interest in the history of the building, because it has been often doubted, in spite of the formal affirmation of the ancient descriptions. From John of Wurzburg to Mejr ed Din, all writers agree in saying that the Dome of the Rock was adorned with mosaics inside and outside. The last trace of this system of decoration disappeared from the outside when the faience was applied in the sixteenth century. Mons. Ganneau considers the mosaics to be " the work of the Arabs, perhaps that of Saladin." On the other hand, Mr. Fergusson, from whose valuable works our description of the mosque is chiefly compiled, believes the mosaics to be late Roman or Byzantine, and thinks it not improbable that they may be part of the original design of the building, assuming it to have been erected in the fourth century. The external walls above the basement are entirely covered with tiles, which produce a very fine effect. Verses of the Koran, beautifully written in interwoven character, in blue and white, run round the parapet wall, and beneath are elaborately executed designs in various colours. The tiles are nine and a half inches square and firmly embedded in mortar. Three periods of workmanship can be traced : the tiles of the earliest period are far superior to the others in elegance of design and quality of workmanship ; those of the second are also good ; but the tiles of the third period are in bad taste and of inferior quality. They have been chiefly used in recent repairs. The aisle screen is perhaps the most interesting part of the building, and it is that upon which the architectural arguments with reference to the age of the Dome of the Rock are chiefly founded. The bases of the columns are cased with slabs of marble, but they were uncovered during the repairs, and it was then found that, though classical in form, they difl"ered in outline and height. This, however, is not an unusual occurrence in early Christian churches, for the builders made free use of columns, capitals, and bases taken from pagan temples. The shafts of the columns do not rest immediately on their bases, but on sheets of lead from three-quarters of an inch to one and a half inches thick. The capitals are of the Corinthian order, and they illustrate " one of the very first attempts to convert the hollow bowl of the Corinthian capital into a fuller form, to bear an arch or a longer entablature." The entablature, although of wood, would have looked crushingly heavy if maintaining its classical depth, across pillars spaced eight diameters apart. The architrave is consequently omitted and represented only by a square block of stone over each pillar, supporting the frieze and cornice, of fairly classical design ; and over this comes a bold discharging arch, which again supports a cornice, originally apparently classical, but now hidden in more modern details of stone. The stone blocks are cased with marble slabs, which seem at one time to have been covered with bronze plates. The wood entablature is painted in bright colours, to bring out the details of the beautiful frieze and cornice, and its soflit and part of its side are covered with bronze repoussi work of a very elaborate and beautiful class. 56 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. The piers of the screen are cased with marble, and the capitals are gilded. The arches are ornamented with fanciful designs in mosaic. Above the mosaics runs the remarkable inscription, writ- ten in letters of gold, which records the erection of the Dome of the Rock by El Mamiin in the year 72 of the Hegira. As, however, El Mamiin, who was a son of Harun al Rashid, died in 218 A.H., M. de Vogtie and Professor Palmer be- lieve that the name of Abd el Melik, who, according to their opinion, was the ori- ginal founder, was purposely erased, and that of the Imam el Mamun fraudulently sub- stituted ; the short-sighted forger, however, omitted to erase the date. The in- scription consists chiefly of verses from the Koran, The following are some of the most interesting passages of the inscription : "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate ! The servant of God, Abdallah, the Imam el Mamun, Com- mander of the Faithful, built this dome in the year 72 (a.d. 691), May God accept it at his hands, and be con- tent with him. Amen ! There is no god but God alone ; He hath no partner. Say He is OLD CYPRESS TREES IN THE HARAM ESH SHERIF. On the western side. JERUSALEM. ^7 the one God, the Eternal ; He neither begetteth nor is begotten, and there is no one Hke Him. Mohammed is the Apostle of God ; pray God for him. There is no god but God alone; to Him be praise, who taketh not unto Himself a son, and to whom none can be a THE GOLDEN GATE OF THE HARAM ESH SHERIF. From the west. The Mount of Olives in the distance. partner in His kingdom, and whose patron no lower creature can be; magnify ye Him. Oh ! ye who have received the Scriptures, exceed not the bounds in your religion, and speak not aught but truth concerning God. God is but One. There is no god but Him, the Mighty, the Wise." 9 58 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. When the Crusaders reached Jerusalem it is said that they found the Dome of the Rock covered with inscriptions in the Cufic character, which stated that the building had been erected by Omar. These have disappeared, as well as the Latin inscriptions with which the mosque was adorned, inside and outside, during the Christian occupation of the Holy City. One of these inscriptions, which commenced " Domus mea domus orationis vocabitur, dicit Dominus," occupied, if our interpretation of the description of Theodoricus is correct, the place of the great Cuhc inscription. The aisles are covered by slightly sloping roofs with panelled wooden ceilings, and paved with mosaics formed of old material, amongst which there are many fragments of sculptured slabs. The bases and columns of the inner circle are similar to those of the octagonal screen ; the capitals differ in size, in outline, and in details, and in their state of preservation ; but in most cases the volutes and acanthus leaves have been much defaced, the projecting edges having been knocked off The columns and piers are connected by a fine wrought-iron screen, which is said to be of French workmanship of the latter part of the twelfth century, and believed to be a relic of the Crusaders (see page 59). A fragment of the choir of the old Christian church (Templum Domini) also remains. The discharging arches, which spring directly from the capitals, are covered with a thin veneering of marble, black and white slabs arranged alternately. Above the arches is the drum upon which the dome rests, divided into what may be called the triforium and clerestory by a slight cornice. The former is ornamented by a band of scrollwork in glass mosaics, which in many of its features is late Roman. The clerestory is pierced by sixteen windows, between each of which the scroll of the triforium is repeated with some slight variations. Mons. Ganneau ascertained that on many of the vertical walls of the interior " the coloured and gilded little cubes of glass which produce together so marvellous an effect are not sunk in the walls so that their faces are vertical, but are placed obliquely, so that the faces make an angle with the walls. This ingenious inclination is evidently intended to present their many-coloured facets at the most effective angle of incidence to the eye below." This system of decoration produces a dazzling and magical effect, which must be seen to be perfectly realised. According to Mr. Fergusson, the history of the mosaic decoration is as follows : " When the building was first erected by Constantine he adorned it, internally at least, with mosaics, portions of which still remain. When the Saracens took possession of the Dome of the Rock they destroyed those parts of these mosaics representing emblems offensive to Moslem ideas, and replaced them by those others which we now see. When the Christians regained possession of the building in 1099 they obliterated the Saracenic inscriptions and replaced them by the Latin ones, copied and published by John of Wlirzburg and Theodoricus. Lastly, when the Moslems recovered the Kubbet es Sakhra, Saladin, or some one about his time, obliterated the Christian inscriptions, remodelled entirely the mosaics of the side aisles at least, and inserted the Cufic inscriptions, which ascribe the erection of the building to Abd el Melik or El Mamun." 6o PICTURESQUE PALESTINE, The dome of the building is of wood, covered externally with lead, and internally with stucco, richly gilt and painted ; its height is about ninety-six feet. The windows of the external wall and clerestory are remarkable for the beauty of their tracery, no less than for the brilliancy of their colouring and for the admirable way in which the different colours are blended, producing perfect harmony in the whole. To be seen to advantage they should have the full blaze of a Syrian sun streaming through them. One window near the western door is of special beauty. The light is admitted through three mediums. First, there is on the outside a thick perforated framework of cement covered with THE CAVE UNDER THE GREAT ROCK ON MOUNT MORIAH. faience ; this allows the light to pass to a second window of stone with white glass, and thence to the inner window, which gives the design and colouring. In this inner window the small pieces of coloured glass are inserted obliquely, and not vertically, so as to overhang and meet the eye of the spectator at right angles. Nothing can equal the exquisite taste with which the pieces of glass are arranged or the charming brightness of the colouring ; and the combined effect is certainly not surpassed by that of any windows in Europe. Some of the windows bear the name of Suleiman, and the date 935 (1528 a.d.), the same period to which the finest specimens of the porcelain tiles are assigned. JERUSALEM. 6i The "Sakhra" or Rock, which occupies the centre of the building, is overhung by a canopy and surrounded by a rude wooden railing. It rises four feet nine and a half inches THE FACADE OF THE MOSQUE EL AKSA, JERUSALEM, An old olive-tree in the foreground. above the marble pavement of the mosque at its highest point, and one foot at its lowest ; from north to south it measures fifty-six feet, and from east to west forty-two feet. Beneath the rock there is a small cave (see page 60), the entrance to which is at the 62 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. south-east corner of the rock ; a flight of steps passes under an archway and leads down to the chamber. The average height of the cave is six feet. In the roof is a circular opening which pierces the rock ; the floor is paved with marble, and the sides are covered with plaster and whitewash. The floor, when stamped upon, gives out a hollow sound, indicating the presence of a lower chamber, possibly a well, the " Well of Spirits," The sides, too, when tapped give forth a hollow sound, which the Moslem guardian brings forward as a proof that the Sakhra is, in accordance with the legend, suspended in the air. Many curious traditions are attached to the Dome of the Rock. Immediately within the "Gate of Paradise" is the "Sepulchre of Solomon." A small piece of marble, called the " Flagstone of Paradise," is let into the pavement above the tomb. Into this marble Mohammed drove nails, which at certain intervals drop through to the tomb below; when they have all disappeared the prophet will come to judge the faithful. Three nails now remain perfect, and one has sunk some depth. The place has a weird interest to the Moslem pilgrim, who approaches it with cautious step, mindful of the grave advice of the attendant sheikh, " Take heed to thy footsteps, O pilgrim ! lest thou shake a nail through and hasten the day of judgment." Near the west side of the rock is preserved the shield of Hamzeh, the uncle of Omar. The shield is of very beautiful workmanship, and is, perhaps, of Persian manufacture. Its face is highly ornamented with figures of birds and animals in low relief, the peacock being most prominent; but it has been flattened in and turned towards the wall to conceal the forbidden figures from devout eyes. It is, however, round the mysterious rock that the legends gather most thickly. On the Sakhra, if we are to believe certain traditions, Melchizedek ofl"ered sacrifice ; there Abraham was about to offer Isaac ; there Jacob saw the ladder leading up into heaven ; and there, too, was the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, by which the angel stood when he stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it ; the site of the " altar of the burnt-offering for Israel," upon which David sacrificed ; the altar of the Temples of Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Herod. Here Mohammed prayed, declaring that one prayer by the sacred rock was better than a thousand elsewhere, and hence he passed heavenward on his mysterious steed, Al Borak. At the south-west corner of the rock may still be seen the " Footprint of Mohammed," covered by a rude shrine, which contains, carefully screened from vulgar eyes, an object of the deepest veneration, a single hair of the prophet's head. Here, too, are the banners of Omar, which were carried before him when he captured Jerusalem ; they are now covered with cases which do not seem to have been removed for years. When the Crusaders converted the Dome of the Rock into their Templum Domini they formed a choir in the centre, which was probably co-extensive with the inner circle of piers and columns, and placed the high altar on the Sakhra, which was covered with marble slabs and decorated with sculptured figures in marble. The principal entrance was at that time by the western door, on passing through which the visitor had in front of JERUSALEM. 64 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. him the choir, and on the left of the choir the Chapels of the " Presentation of Christ " and of "Jacob's Dream." Over the one was written the couplet — " Hie fuit oblatus rex regum virgine natus, Qua propter sanctus locus est hie jure vocatus;" and over the other — " Hie Jacob scalam vidit, construxit et aram, Hinc locus ornatur, quo sanctus jure vocatur." The cave was at the same time converted into a chapel, ornamented with paintings and inscriptions commemorative of the appearance of the angel to Zacharias, and of the woman taken in adultery who was brought before Jesus. On the day of the Purification a solemn procession passed through the city from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to the Templum Domini (Dome of the Rock) ; and on the occasion of the coronation of the Frank kings of Jerusalem a similar procession took place. According to the prescribed ceremonial, the king was crowned in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre ; he then proceeded to the Templum Domini to offer his crown on the altar of the Chapel of the Presentation of Christ, and afterwards passed to the Templum Salomonis (Mosque el Aksa), where the Knights Templars had their residence. Whilst the repairs were being executed in 1873, several fragments of figures and other memorials were found of the occupation of the Dome of the Rock by the Crusaders. What is the origin of this beautiful building ? To this question no -decisive answer has yet been made. Mr. Fergusson, arguing chiefly on architectural grounds — and his arguments have never been answered by any one competent to deal with this side of the problem — maintains that the Dome of the Rock is in all essential particulars the identical Anastasis, or Church of the Resurrection, built by the Emperor Constantine over the cave which he believed to be the Sepulchre of Christ. He is also absolutely convinced that the "new sepulchre" was near this spot, probably in this very rock and under the very dome. Mr. Fergusson places the Basilica of Constantine on the north side of the platform of the mosque ; and he considers a souterrain discovered by Captain Warren to be part of one of the double aisles of that building, which Eusebius describes as partly above ground and partly beneath it. The conclusions arrived at by a committee of architects and engineers, who considered the question at Munich, seem to have been that the Dome of the Rock was not an old Arab building, and that it could not have been built by Constantine or later than, the reign of Justinian. The view of the committee was that the evidence laid before them tended to show that the building could only belong to the first third of the sixth century. The Arab historians attribute the erection of the Dome of the Rock to Abd el Melik, and this is the view generally taken of its origin. The essentially Byzantine character of the building is explained by the supposition that Abd el Melik employed a Greek architect, the Arabs at that time having no style of their own. It is somewhat surprising, however, to find that, though the Arabs came JERUSALEM. 65 in contact with Byzantine civilisation in other places, there is no known instance of a similar style of building having been erected by them. The platform on which the Dome of the Rock stands is paved with limestone slabs, and carries several minor buildings, of which the " Tribunal of the Prophet David," or " Dome of the Chain," in front of the east door of the mosque, is the most remarkable. This beautiful little building is an open pavilion of eleven sides, with six internal columns, which support an hexagonal drum and a domed roof. It has a " mihrab " on the south face. The bases, shafts, and capitals differ greatly from each other, and have been taken from an older building. The last are of a late Byzantine style, and have none of those classical features which are so characteristic of the capitals of the Dome of the Rock. The interior of the small dome is overlaid with faience, which produces a very pretty effect. According to tradition David's judgment-seat stood beneath the dome, and it was here that Mohammed caught a first glimpse of the houris of Paradise. In the twelfth century the building was looked upon as the tomb of St. James, the brother of our Lord, whose body is said to have been removed to this spot from the Valley of Jehoshaphat, where it was first buried. The remaining buildings are the " Dome of the Spirits," beneath which the natural rock may be seen; the "Dome of El Khydr" (Elias, or St. George); the " Dome of the Prophet Mohammed," and other structures of less importance. Near the flight of steps which leads down from the platform on the south is the " Summer Pulpit," a beautiful structure in marble, which affords a fine example of Arab art in the sixteenth century. The pulpit was built by Berhan ed Din Kadi, 798 a.h. (see page 49). Passing from the " Dome of the Rock " to the Mosque el Aksa, at the south end of the Haram esh Sherif, the eye is at once struck by the difference in style, and by the inferior character of the material used in the construction of the latter (see page 61). The porch is Gothic, and appears to be the work of the Crusaders. The mosque is about one hundred and ninety feet wide and two hundred and seventy feet long, and is divided into seven aisles. The building lies north and south, and the centre of the transept at the south end is covered by a dome. The columns of the centre aisles are heavy and stunted, and have a circumference of nine feet three inches to a height of sixteen feet five inches; the remaining columns are better proportioned. The capitals of the columns are of four different kinds : those in the centre aisle are heavy and badly designed ; those under the dome are of the Corinthian order, of white marble, and similar to those in the Dome of the Rock; those in the east aisle are of a heavy basket-shaped design; and those east and west of the dome are basket-shaped, but small and well proportioned. These last are made of plaster. The columns and piers are connected by a rude architrave, which consists of beams of roughly-squared timber enclosed in a wooden casing which is poorly ornamented. Some of the windows are very good, one especially, of a delicate blue colour, which is situated in the tambour of the dome, and only seen immediately on entering the mosque. There is another fine window in the Mosque of Zechariah, but 10 66 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. the colours are not so effectively blended as in the windows of the Dome of the Rock. A A great portion of the mosque is covered with whitewash, but the drum of the dome and the walls immediately beneath it are richly decorated with mosaics and marble. The mosaics are of the same age as, but of different design from, those in the Dome of the Rock. Some wretched paintings by an Italian artist were introduced when the mosque was repaired at the commencement of the present century. Near the south end of the building is the Minbar Omar, a magnificent pulpit made at Damascus by Niireddin, and brought to Jerusalem by Saladin after he captured the city. It is entirely of wood, with exquisitely carved arabesques and raised panels, inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl. Close to the BIRKET ISRAIL— THE POOL OF BETHESDA. JERUSALEM. 67 pulpit, on the west, are the " Mihrab of Moses " and the " Footprint of Jesus ; " and not far from them is a place where the faithful test their prospects of seeing the houris in Paradise by attempting to pass between two columns which stand close together. One of the columns is chipped, so that the ordeal is not a very difficult one. On the east side of the Aksa are the " Mosque of the Women," the " Mosque of the Forty " (Martyrs), the "Mihrab of John and Zechariah," and the "Gate of Elias." A black slab of stone let into the north wall of the mosque, beneath the porch, is connected with another proof of fitness for Paradise. Those who wish to try their chance of finally reaching MOUNT SCOPUS FROM ST. STEPHEN'S GATE. Mohammedan tombs in the foreground. the desired goal place their backs against one of the pillars of the facade, shut their eyes, and walk with outstretched hands towards the slab ; if they are fortunate enough to plant their hands in the centre they will be saved, if not they are doomed. Within the mosque is the entrance to the cistern known as the " Well of the Leaf," of which the following curious story is related. Mohammed said on a certain occasion, " One of my followers will enter Paradise walking, while yet alive." During the caliphate of Omar some Moslems came to Jerusalem to pray. " One of them went to this well to draw water, but while doing so his bucket fell to the bottom. He went down to get it, and to his great surprise 68 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. found there a door opening into delicious gardens. Having walked through them for a time he plucked a leaf from one of the trees, placed it behind his ear, and hastened back to tell his companions. The matter was reported to the Governor, who sent his servants with the stranger to see these remarkable subterranean gardens ; but no door could be found. Omar was written to, and he at once replied that the prophecy of Mohammed was now literally fulfilled, because a living man had walked into Paradise. To test the matter and settle all doubts he desired them to examine the leaf, and if it still remained green and fresh there could be no doubt that it came from Paradise. The leaf had, of course, preserved its verdure." At the south-east corner of the Mosque el Aksa an open doorway leads to the "Mosque of Omar," a long low building with pointed arches. In its south wall is the Mihrab of Omar, which, according to the existing tradition, marks the place where Omar first prayed after he entered Jerusalem. On either side of the mihrab is a twisted column with a rich grotesquely carved capital. The capitals were exposed to view a few years ago, but have since been covered with plaster. They evidently belonged to some building or altar erected by the Crusaders. Much confusion has arisen from the transfer of the name of this mosque to the Dome of the Rock, for which there is no authority either in history or local tradition. A flight of steps outside the principal entrance to the Mosque el Aksa leads down to the " Double Passage," which runs beneath the building to the " Double Gate," in the south wall of the Haram esh Sherif The Double Gateway leads into a vestibule measuring thirty feet by forty feet, in the centre of which stands a fine monolithic column with a Corinthian capital of beautiful design. It consists of alternate leaves of the acanthus and water-lily, without any volutes or any of the accompaniments of the later Corinthian order. From its summit spring four flat arches, dividing the roof into four compartments, each of which is roofed by a low flat dome. The sides of the vestibule were originally built with stones ornamented by a marginal draft, but at some period of reconstruction the masonry was cut away to give relief to the pilasters opposite the monolith, and the drafts disappeared. The two entrances of the Double Gate are separated by a pier, upon which the ends of the great lintels which cover the openings rest. Above the lintels there are relieving arches, and over these a cornice. The Double Passage is reached by a flight of steps at the end of the western vault. It is covered by well-built semicircular arches, and its walls, as far as the third pier, are of ancient masonry ; beyond that point the masonry is of a mixed character. The ascent to the Haram esh Sherif is now easy, but it was at one time much more rapid, and the conduit connecting the "Well of the Leaf" with the aqueduct from Solomon's Pools was cut through when the passage was reconstructed in its present form. The vestibule is undoubtedly a portion of Herod's Temple, and the great monolithic column in its centre corresponds in position with one of the pillars in the Royal Cloisters, which ran along JERUSALEM. 69 the south wall of the Temple. The direction of the passage, too, is of importance, as there seem some reasons for believing that the passage from the Huldah Gate led directly to the Altar of the Temple. At the south-east angle of the Haram esh Sherif a flight of steps gives access to a small mosque, in which is shown the " Cradle, or Couch, of our Lord Jesus." The cradle is an old Roman niche for the reception of a statue, placed on its back and covered by a kind of shrine. A small window on the right- hand side of the staircase looks into the extensive vaults which support the south-eastern portion of the Haram enclosure. These vaults are known to Franks as " Solomon's Stables," and to Moslems as " the Old Mosque." In this south-east corner, according to Captain Warren and Mr. Fergusson, Solomon's Palace was situated and, on the surface above the latter places the group of buildings, churches, monastery, and hospital, which Justinian erected on the Temple mount. Some years ago Dr. Barclay, the American mis- sionary, found a portion of the ground on which Justinian's buildings are supposed to have stood paved with tessercs, but all traces of the pavement have now disappeared. On the east side of the Haram esh Sherif is the "Golden Gate," called by Moslems the "Gate of Conversion or Penitence," and sometimes the "Gate of the Eternal "(see page 57). IN THE MOHAMMEDAN CEMETERY, JERUSALEM. 70 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. The floor of the Golden Gate is much below the level of the Haram, and the door which gives access to the interior is at the foot of a steep slope of rubbish. The roof is of comparatively late construction, but the body of the work is in a good state of preservation, the finer parts of the sculpture having been protected by a coat of plaster, which was at sortie time put on to conceal it. A quasi-classical cornice runs along the wall on both sides of the interior. The style is identical with that of the decorated arch over the " Double Gate," and also with the portion of an old cornice which is built into the facade of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In the capital of the pilaster at the north-east corner a variation is produced by looping up the acanthus leaves with a cord. The two columns in the interior "are boldly and originally Byzantine, according neither with the corresponding pilasters in the wall, nor with anything else of that age." The arches spring directly from the architrave blocks and support flat domes with pendentives. Externally the entire entablature, architrave, frieze, and cornice are bent, as at Spalatro, and arching from pillar to pillar — a peculiarity which is said not to be found in any building after the fourth century. The two free-standing columns in the interior are said by Moslem tradition to have been brought on her shoulders by the Queen of Sheba as a present to King Solomon. Through the gateway itself, at the last day, the good will pass on their way to the houris of Paradise, after having safely crossed the Kedron on that bridge which is sharper than the sharpest sword ; and through the same portal, according to a very generally received belief, the Christian prince who retakes Jerusalem will make his public entry. The belief that the Christians will recapture the city, and that their own tenure of the country is drawing to a close, is widely spread amongst the Moslems in Palestine. Mr. Fergusson believes the Golden Gate to be the " festal portal which Eusebius describes Constantine as erecting in front of his basilica." Count de Vogiie, on the other hand, considers it to be a building of the fifth or sixth century, erected by the Christians, as the Beautiful Gate of the Temple — the Nicanor of the Talmud — to commemorate the miracle therein performed by St. Peter and St. John in curing the lame man, as narrated in the third chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. North of the Golden Gate is a small modern building called " Solomon's Chair," which contains a sort of cenotaph covered with carpets and cloths. The Moslems attach peculiar sanctity to the place, and visit it every year at the Feast of Bairam. Tradition relates that Solomon died here, and supported himself on his stafl" to conceal his death from the demons. In course of time, however, the stafl" became worm-eaten and the body fell, much to the delight of the demons, who then for the first time became aware that they were freed from the king's authority. Many small buildings are scattered over the surface of the Haram esh Sherif (see page 53), One which merits especial notice is that called Saladin's Fountain, or, more properly, the Fountain of Kait Bey, near the " Cotton Gate." According to the inscription, this beautiful little building was erected by Melek el Ashraf Abu Nasir Kait Bey in the year 849 of the Hegira (a.d. 1445). The dome is entirely covered with arabesques in KHAN-EZ-ZAIT, THE GREAT BAZAAR OF THE OIL MERCHANTS. From the south, looking towards the street of the Damascus Gate, which is in full sunlight. 72 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. relief. The western and northern sides of the Haram area are lined with cloisters, but there is nothing remarkable in their construction or appearance. The ceremonies connected with the Temple service required at all times an abundant supply of water, and special arrangements had to be made for its storage. These arrange- ments consisted of a series of rock-hewn cisterns which were supplied with water by an aqueduct from Solomon's Pools, near Bethlehem, and were connected with each other by a network of conduits. There was also an overflow towards Siloam, possibly by the rock-hewn passages be- neath the Triple Gate. The cisterns are amongst the most remarkable features of the Haram esh Sherif, They are from twenty-five to fifty feet in height, and vary consider- ably in capacity. One, in front of El Aksa, known as the " Great Sea," would hold two million gallons ; and the total number of gallons which could be stored probably ex- ceeded twelve millions. Some of the cisterns have been formed by making small open- ings in the hard stratum of limestone which forms the natural surface of the ground, and then excavating large chambers in the soft under- lying stratum, the roof being supported in some places by pillars of rock left for the purpose. Other cisterns are made by forming an open tank, and ROBINSON'S ARCH, JERUSALEM. Part of a bridge which crossed the Tyropoeon Valley, named after its discoverer, Dr. Robinson. JERUSALEM. 73 then throwing a plain covering arch over the excavation. The former are certainly the most ancient, having apparently been made before the arch came into common use for covering large openings ; and it is a remarkable fact that no large cisterns of this description are found THE HILL OF EVIL COUNSEL FROM THE SOUTH WALL, JERUSALEM. The nearer hill-side is the eastern slope of Ophel ; a good example of terrace cultivation. to the north of the Dome of the Rock. The form of some of the cisterns is so peculiar that it seems probable they were originally made for another purpose. One ■ -'' - ■ has a curious cruciform shape, with a flight of rock-hewn steps leading down to it ; another has a long chamber raised nearly five feet above the floor-line ; and a third, besides a raised chamber into which there are two entrances, has a small elevated platform with steps leading up to it, as it were 11 74 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. to the altar of a church. One of the cisterns north of the Dome of the Rock is identified by Captain Warren with the passage which led from the Gate Nitsots to the Gate Tadi of the Temple, and by Mr. Fergusson with a passage connecting the Anastasis with the Basilica of Constantine ; and another cistern is believed by the former gentleman to be part of the passage from the Temple gate Mokad. The cisterns being covered in, they must always have kept the water cool and pleasant to the taste, and there could have been but slight loss from evaporation. The aqueduct which supplied the cisterns with water crosses the Tyropoeon Valley on the viaduct of which Wilson's Arch forms a part, and enters the Haram at the Gate of the Chain. Hence the principal branch runs to a fountain called El Kas (the Cup), nearly midway between the Dome of the Rock and El Aksa (see vignette), and close to the site assigned by Mr. Fergusson to the Jewish altar. From El Kas smaller conduits lead to the cisterns in the southern half of the Haram. The description of the Haram esh Sherif which has been given above will, it is hoped, enable the reader to picture to himself the present state of Mount Moriah and the character of the buildings that now occupy its surface. A few notes on the Temple and the various theories with regard to its position may now be added. The altar of David was erected on the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, and the succeeding altars of the Jews were set up on the same spot until the capture and destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. If, then, the site of the altar of Herod's Temple could be ascertained, the Temple questions would at once be solved. Of Herod's Temple there are detailed descriptions in Josephus and the Talmud, but unfortunately the question of its position is greatly complicated by the literal fulfilment of the prophecy that not one stone should be left upon another. The Temple which Herod commenced to build in the sixteenth year of his reign was, according to Josephus, a square of six hundred feet. This is distinctly stated in three separate passages: in Ant. xv. ii, 3 the enclosure is said to be four stadii in circuit, each side measuring one stadium in length ; in Ant. xv. 11, 5 the Stoa Basilica is described as extending " from the east valley to that on the west, for it was impossible it should reach any farther," and as being one stadium long ; and again in Ant xx. 9, 7 the length of the eastern cloister of the outer court is given as four hundred cubits, that is one stadium, or six hundred feet. If the dimensions had been mentioned once only it would be possible to suppose that an error had been made, but it is almost impossible to believe that the same mistake could occur in three different places, or that Josephus, who knew very well what a stadium was, should declare the Stoa Basilica to be one stadium long when it was one and a half, as it would have been had the cloisters extended the full length of the south wall of the Haram. The gates of the Temple enclosure were as follows : on the west there were four gates ; the first " led to the King's palace and went to a passage over the intermediate valley," a description which agrees well with the gate at the end of Wilson's Arch, from which a street now runs in almost a direct line to the site occupied by Herod's Palace, over the old Tyropoeon viaduct. Two JERUSALEM. " 75 other gates led to the suburbs of the city ; one of them is certainly that known now as " Barclay's Gate," and the other is probably " Warren's Gate," north of Wilson's Arch which may have led down from the cloisters which con- nected the Castle of An- tonia with the Temple. The last gate on the west side " led to the other city where the road de- scended down into the valley by a great number of steps and thence up again by the ascent, for the city lay over against the Temple in the manner of a theatre." This corresponds with all that is known of the structural arrangement of the approach to the Stoa Basilica over " Robin- son's Arch." On the north side of the enclosure there was one gate called in the Talmud " Tadi " (obscurity) " which served for no (ordinary) purpose ; " and on the east also one gate, on which was portrayed the city Shushan. THE SOUTH WALL OF THE HARAM ESH SHERIF. The Dome of the Mosque El Aksa and the Mount of Olives. 76 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. " Through it one could see the high-priest who burned the heifer and all his assistants going out to the Mount of Olives." The south side had "gates in its middle" — the Huldah Gate, that served for going in and out — which there is little difficulty in identifying with the " Double Gate " beneath the Mosque El Aksa. The walls of the Temple enclosure were surmounted by cloisters of great magnificence. On the north, west, and east the cloisters were double, with monolithic columns of white marble and roofs of curiously carved cedar. On the south were the royal cloisters, Stoa Basilica, which consisted of one hundred and sixty-two columns with Corinthian capitals, arranged in four rows so as to form three aisles. The outer row of columns was attached to the wall ; the remaining columns stood free ; and the size of each was such " that three men might, with their arms extended, fathom it round and join their hands again." The centre aisle was forty-five feet, and each of the side aisles thirty feet wide, and the " roofs were adorned with deep sculptures in wood, representing many sorts of figures. The middle was much higher than the rest, and the wall of the front was adorned with beams, resting upon pillars that were interwoven into it, and that front was all of polished stone ; insomuch that its fineness to such as had not seen it was incredible, and to such as had seen it was greatly amazing," The cloisters were separated from the steps which led up to the Inner Temple by an open space which is supposed to have been from twenty-four to thirty cubits wide, the width varying on each side of the Temple. The cloisters and Court of the Gentiles formed the Outer Temple, and it was this portion of the building which our Lord characterized as a den of thieves. Here, as in a market-place, were assembled those who bought and sold, and here stood the tables of the money-changers and those who sold doves. Here the Jew who had come from some Gentile nation could change the foreign money he had brought with him into Jewish coin, which could alone be paid into the Temple treasury, and here turtle-doves and young pigeons could be purchased for sacrifice. The whole or a portion of the eastern cloister was called Solomon's Porch. Here Jesus was accustomed to walk; and it was here, too, that the people ran together and surrounded Peter and John after they had healed the lame man. From the Court of the Gentiles a few steps led up to a flat terrace called the Chel, on the outer edge of which ran a stone screen or partition, three cubits high, of very elegant con- struction. Upon the screen "stood pillars, at equal distances from one another, declaring the law of purity, some in Greek and some in Roman letters, that no foreigner should go within that sanctuary " on pain of death. It was one of the inscriptions from these pillars which, as previously mentioned, was found by Mons. Ganneau. The Chel on the north, west, and south was ten cubits wide ; but on the east, in front of the Temple, it was of greater width, and formed a rectangular space surrounded by a wall of its own, called the Court of the Women. Such as were pure were allowed to enter this court with their wives, but the women were not allowed to pass beyond. From the Chel other steps led up through gates to the Inner Temple, which was square, THE UPPER POOL OF SILOAM. Its walls are covered with mosses and ferns, especially the maidenhair fern, with which the picture is appropriately bordered. 78 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. each side probably about two hundred and ten cubits, and surrounded by a wall thirty-seven and a half feet high on the inside. In this wall there were seven gates : on the north the Gate Nitzus, the Gate of Offering, and the Gate Mokad ; on the south the Gate of Flaming, the Gate of Offering, and the Water Gate, which opened directly on the altar, and appears to have been in continuation of the Huldah Gate; and on the east was the Beautiful Gate, or Gate Nicanor of the Talmud, In addition to the above, three gates led into the Court of the Women, one on the north, another on the south, and a third on the east. On each side of the gateways there were chambers which were used as stores, &c., in connection with the Temple service. Nine of these gates " were on every side covered over with gold and silver, as were the jambs of their doors and their lintels." The Beautiful Gate was of Corinthian brass, and ornamented in the most costly manner with richer and thicker plates of gold than the other gates. Within the wall of the Inner Temple enclosure were the Temple with its altar, the Court of the Men of Israel, and the Court of the Priests, In the Temple, as recon- structed by Herod, the Holy of Holies " remained a cube of twenty cubits, and occupied the same place as it had from Solomon's days. The Holy Place was forty cubits east and west by twenty cubits across, and thirty cubits high, as before." The porch was eleven cubits wide by " apparently fifty cubits north and south, bounded on the east by a wall five cubits thick, while one six cubits in thickness separated it from the Holy Place, making twenty-two cubits in all," The facade of the Temple was one hundred cubits long, and in front of it, at the top of a flight of steps leading down to the Court of the Priests, stood the Toran, or screen bearing the golden vine. The Temple was partly surrounded by thirty-eight little chambers, " fifteen in the north, fifteen in the south, and eight in the west. The northern and southern ones were (placed) five over five, and five over them ; and in the west three over three and two over them. To each were three doors : one to the little chamber to the right, one to the little chamber to the left, and one to the little chamber over it." Internally the Temple was divided into the Holy Place — in which there were " three things that were very wonderful and famous among all mankind, the candlestick, the table (of shewbread), and the altar of incense" — and the Holy of Holies, inaccessible and inviolable, in which nothing was kept. The veil of the Temple is stated to have been a " Babylonian curtain, embroidered with blue, and fine linen, and scarlet, and purple," and of a very fine texture. The colours were symbolical of the universe : the scarlet and blue represented, by means of their colours, fire and air ; the fine linen, earth, by the flax of which it was made ; and the purple, the sea, from the circumstance that the dye was obtained from salt-water shell-fish. Upon the curtain was also embroidered " all that was mystical in the heavens, except the twelve signs of the zodiac representing living creatures." There is much divergence in the views of the writers who have attempted to reconstruct the Temple and fix its position within the Haram enclosure. Mr. Fergusson supposes the Temple to have occupied a square of about six hundred feet at the south-west angle of the Haram esh Sherif, and he is followed in this by Messrs. Thrupp, Lewin, and others. 8o PICTURESQUE PALESTINE, Robinson's Arch, Barclay's Gate, and Wilson's Arch are identified with three of the west gates of the Temple, and the Double Gate with the Huldah Gate on the south. The altar is placed near the fountain El Kas, in front of the Mosque El Aksa (see vignette). Captain Warren, R.E., considers that the outer courts of the Temple of Herod are defined by the east, west, and south walls of the Haram esh Sherif, and by the northern edge of the raised platform of the Dome of the Rock. He places the altar over the west end of the curious cruciform cistern beneath the platform. Count de Vogiie, Mons. de Saulcy, Sir Henry James, Dr. Sepp, and others, believe that the entire surface of the Haram enclosure was occupied by the Temple, its courts and cloisters. Drs. Robinson and Barclay, Professors Porter and Kiepert, maintain that the Temple enclosure was a square of about nine hundred and twenty- five feet, situated in the southern portion of the Haram. Drs. Tobler and Rosen believe that the Temple was a square of six hundred feet, nearly coincident with the platform of the Dome of the Rock. In these last cases the altar is placed on the Sakhra. With regard to the position of Antonia all differ. The questions are such as can only be settled definitely by excavation ; but, so far as we can judge at present, Mr. Fergusson's theory of the Temple site most nearly accords with what is known of the features of the ground and with the written description of Josephus. From the Haram esh Sherif we may pass out of the city by the "Gate of the Tribes" and "St. Stephen's Gate," and commence an examination of the modern walls of Jerusalem, which were built by Sultan Suleiman in the sixteenth century. From the gate of St. Stephen to Burj Laklak, " Stork Tower," at the north-east angle, the wall is partly protected by a ditch ~ excavated in the rock, and the bases of the flanking towers, thirty-two feet wide, are also rock-hewn. Between Burj Laklak and the Damascus Gate in the north wall there is a similar ditch cut in the rock, and between these two points there is also a closed gateway known as the " Gate of Herod," but more properly called the " Gate of Splendour, or Blooming." Near the latter gate the ditch is of considerable depth, a feature which probably marks the original entrance to the quarries (see page 93). From the Damascus Gate to the north-west angle of the city, in which " Goliath's Castle " stands, the wall appears to have been built on the foundations of an older one ; material of all kinds has been used in its construction, and at one point the Moslem builders have made a curious attempt to assimilate the older work to their masonry by cutting false joints in the stones of the former. The wall was protected by a ditch cut in the rock, but it is now almost filled with rubbish. The ruin known as " Goliath's Castle " is an old tower of rubble masonry, partly faced with stone having a marginal draft. Within the tower there is a modern chamber, and beneath it an older one with two piers, which are supposed by some writers to be Herodian ; the}^ are, however, more probably Crusading or Saracenic. The castle has been identified with the octagonal tower of Psephinus, mentioned by Josephus, but it is more probably the Tower of Tancred, mentioned in the histories of the Crusades. There seems evidence, too, that the castle is built on the founda- tions of one of the old walls of the city. From the north-west angle to the Jaffa Gate the JERUSALEM. 8i wall is built on the remains of an older one ; there is here a great accumulation of rubbish, and near the gate the original features of the ground are entirely concealed. South of the Jaffa Gate lies the Citadel (see page 3), protected by its ditch ; thence to the south-west angle and onwards to the Zion Gate the wall has been reconstructed with old material ; and from the Zion Gate to the Dung Gate in the Tyropoeon Valley, and thence to the Double Gate, the wall is of the same character (see page 75). From the Double Gate to the Castle of Antonia, near St. Stephen's Gate, the wall of the Haram esh Sherif is also the city wall. How far the existing walls follow the course of the old walls of Jerusalem is a question that has often been asked, and it is one that it is extremely difficult to answer, owing to the limited information we possess respecting the actual nature of the topographical features of the ground. There are, however, certain points which may now be looked upon as certain, and, taking these as a starting-point, future excavations may complete the good work commenced by Captain Warren. Josephus describes the walls as follows. The first or old wall commenced on' the north at the Tower Hippicus, and extended as far as the Xystus, and then, joining to the council-house, ended at the west cloister of the Temple. Going the other way, it also commenced at Hippicus, and, facing west, extended through a place called Bethso to the Gate of the Essenes ; after that it faced south, making a turn above the fountain of Siloam, where it also faced east at Solomon's Pool and reached as far as Ophlas, where it was joined to the eastern cloister of the Temple. In this wall there were sixty towers, each twenty cubits square. The first section of the wall, there can be little question, ran from the Jaffa Gate to the " Gate of the Chain " of the Haram esh Sherif, following a line a little to the south of, and nearly parallel to, David's Street. The second section of the wall is more difficult to trace. There is, how- ever, in the Protestant cemetery, on the western slope of modern Zion, a remarkable excavation in the rock, which gives the line of the city wall thus far. The rock is here, for a distance of one hundred feet, scarped, or cut perpendicularly downwards, so as to have a cliff twenty-four feet high, on the top of which the old wall ran ; and there would appear to have been a succession of these scarps, with rock-terraces in front of them, to the bottom of the valley. A flight of rock-hewn steps led down from the wall above, and the position of three flanking towers can be recognised. Beyond the steps the rock scarp turns to the east, and there are traces of either a ditch or an entrance to the city. This point appears to have been the corner of the wall at or near which was the Gate of the Essenes. The farther course of the old wall and the place at which it crossed the Tyropoeon are unknown. The word Bethso (Dung Place) gives a clue to the route followed by Nehemiah when he went out by night to view the walls. He apparently left Jerusalem by the Jaffa Gate, Valley Gate, and rode to the Dung Gate, or Bethso ; he then went on to the Gate of the Fountain and to the King's Pool in the Tyropoeon Valley, but the deep narrow ravine was so encumbered with the rubbish of the fallen walls that there was no room for the beast that was under him to pass ; he therefore went up by the brook, the more open Kedron valley, and " viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the Gate of the Valley and so returned." In the account of the rebuilding of 12 82 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. the walls under Nehemiah, the Dung Gate is said to have been one thousand cubits from the Valley Gate, or near the south-west angle of the present city wall. The second wall, we are told, "took its bcgmning from that gate which they called Gennath, which belonged to the first wall ; it only encompassed the northern quarter of the city, and reached as far as the tower Antonia." No distinct trace of this wall has yet been found, but the place at which it joined the Castle of Antonia seems to be defined by the rock-hewn ditch at the Convent of the Sisters of Zion, which Monsieur Ganneau was enabled to trace some distance towards the west. The position of the gate Gennath is uncertain. Cap- tain Warren's excavations showed that the old arch- way in the city now known by that name was a Roman portal built on made earth mixed with pottery, and that the roadway beneath it was tvv^enty-five feet above the rock ; the situation, more- over, is not such as would be suitable, having regard to the natural features of the ground, for THE JEWISH CEMETERY IN THE VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT. Showing the tombs of Zachariah, St. James, and Jehoshaphat. Bridge over the rocky bed of the Kedron in the distance, and an Ashkenazi Jew in the foreground. JERUSALEM. 83 a city gateway. It appears to us that the straight street known as Christian Street may possibly mark the line of the second wall, and that the solid nature of the substructure upon ABSALOM'S PILLAR, VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT. The village of Siloam in the distance partly concealed by olive-trees. Bridge over the bed of the Kedron. which that street lies is indicated by the Pool of Hezekiah on the one side and the Church of St. John the Baptist on the other. In this case the gate Gennath must be looked for near 84 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. the junction of David Street and Christian Street, The third or outer wall began "at the Tower Hippicus, whence it reached as far as the north quarter of the city and the Tower Psephinus, and then was so far extended till it came over against the monuments of Helena, which Helena was queen of Adiabene, the mother of Izates ; it then extended farther to a great length, and passed by the sepulchral caverns of the kings, and bent again at the Tower of the Corner, at the monument which is called the Monument of the Fuller, and jofned to the old wall at the valley called the Valley of Kedron." There were ninety towers, each twenty cubits wide, and for a height of twenty cubits built of solid masonry. From the remains of old foundations it is almost certain that the third wall followed the line of the present one. The " Caverns of the Kings " have been sometimes identified with the great stone quarries near the Damascus Gate. These quarries are of great extent, and were worked with a view of mining or getting out stone from what is locally known as the " Malaki " bed of limestone. The quarries are thus entirely subterranean, and they formerly extended some distance on each side of the present city wall. When that wall was first built it was protected by a rock- hewn ditch, and the workmen in forming this cut through the upper strata, and so divided the quarries into two parts ; that on the north is now known as Jeremiah's Grotto, that on the south as the " Quarries," or " Cotton Grotto " (see page 96). At the same period an aqueduct which conveyed water from the north to the Temple area was also cut through. The entrance to the quarries is by a small hole between the roof of the cavern and the rubbish with which the ditch is filled. The floor falls considerably towards the south, in which direction the quarry extends for about two hundred yards, and the roof is supported at uncertain intervals by pillars of rock. The quarrymen appear to have worked in gangs of five or six ; the height of the stone determined the distance of the workmen from each other, and each man carried in a vertical cut four inches wide till he reached the required depth ; the blocks were then separated by wooden wedges driven in and wetted so as to cause them to swell. In many places the stones have been left half cut out, and the marks of the chisel and pick are as fresh as if the quarry- men had only just left their work; even the black patches made by the smoke of the lamps are still visible. In one part of the quarry, dropping water, derived probably from the leakage of cisterns above, has worn the rock away into the form of a basin. The water is impure and unpleasant to the taste. The floor of the quarry is covered with stone chippings, which seem to indicate that the blocks of stone were " dressed " before they were removed from the ground, and large flakes of the overlying strata have fallen from the roof, the spaces left between the pillars being much too wide. The portion of the quarry known as Jeremiah's Grotto (see page 97) is much smaller, but there are evident traces that it was worked in the same manner. Two Moslem tombs are shown within, and according to tradition Jeremiah here wrote the Book of Lamentations. In front of the grotto is an open court planted with fruit trees, beneath which there is a fine cistern. One of the most pleasant excursions in the vicinity of Jerusalem is that to Bethany by the JERUSALEM. 85 THE VILLAGE OF SILOAM FROM THE TOMB OF ST. JAMES. Shewing a portion of the great Jewish cemetery on the western slope of the Mount of Olives. 86 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. pathway over the Mount of Olives, returning by the lower road above Siloam. Passing out of the city by St. Stephen's Gate, a sharp descent leads to the bed of Kedron, which is spanned THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE. Franciscan monks under the ancient olive-trees, and an Arab gardener at work. by a single arch ; and a few paces now brings the traveller to the Chapel of the Tomb of the Virgin (see page 87), where according to tradition she lay after death until her "assumption." JERUSALEM, The chapel is on the left of the road. A few steps lead down to an open court, in which there is a fine porch of the Crusading period, the only part of the church above ground. The chapel, which is about thirty-five feet below the court, is reached by a flight of marble steps. On descending, a chapel on the right is said to contain the tombs of Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Virgin, and an altar in a chapel to the left marks the last resting-place of ENTRANCE TO THE CHAPEL OF THE TOMB OF THE VIRGIN. In the valley of the Kedron. The lizards on the sunny wall are thoroughly characteristic of the place. Joseph, the husband of Mary. The chapel, or subterranean church, is about ninety feet long from east to west, and twenty feet wide. In the east arm there is a small shrine containing the tomb of Mary, outside of which the Greeks and Armenians have each an altar. South of the tomb there is a Mo.slem " mihrab," and in the western arm of the chapel, close to a large cistern, the Abyssinians have erected an altar. The chapel is excavated in the rock, and in forming it advantage appears to have been taken of a natural cavern, or possibly of an old 88 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. tomb chamber. In its present state the chapel has little in common with the tombs in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. The Chapel of the Tomb of the Virgin was rebuilt by Millicent, the wife of Fulke, fourth king of Jerusalem, since which time it has apparently received little alteration. On the right-hand side of the road is the Garden of Gethsemane (see page 86), a small enclosure surrounded by a high wall. The ground is laid out in flower beds, which are carefully tended by a Franciscan monk; but the most interesting objects are the venerable olive-trees, which are said to date from the time of Christ, and which may, in truth, be direct descendants of trees which grew in the same place at the time of the Crucifixion. A tradition, at least as old as the fourth century, identifies this plot of ground with the garden to which Jesus was wont to retire with His disciples. The Church of the Ascension, on the Mount of Olives (see page 90), is a small octagonal chapel, surmounted by a circular drum and dome, standing in the centre of a paved court. The bases and capitals of the columns, taken from older buildings, are of white marble. At the east end of the open court the Greeks, Armenians, Syrians, and Copts, have altars. A tradition connecting the Mount of Olives with our Lord's Ascension existed at a very early period, though in direct contradiction to the words of St. Luke, who says, "He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them. He was parted from them and carried up into heaven." Eusebius mentions the large number of pilgrims who came from all parts of the world to worship on the Mount of Olives ; and the Empress Helena, in erecting a basilica on the spot, about 333 A.D., only perpetuated the' existing tradition. The road from the Mount of Olives to Bethany for about five hundred yards follows the south side of the hill ; it then turns abruptly to the south and crosses the narrow ridge which joins the Mount of Olives to the hill above Bethany. Upon the ridge the Crusaders placed Bethphage (see page 92), and here, in 1877, the ruins of a mediaeval church, with its apse, were discovered, enclosing an isolated block of rock ornamented with paintings and inscrip- tions. The rock is about three feet high, and its position in the chapel, on the north side and probably between two columns of the nave, is remarkable. On the south side, facing Bethany, there is a fresco representing the raising of Lazarus ; on the north side, facing Olivet, the disciples are represented as having just obtained permission to take the ass and the foal ; on the east face the subject of the fresco appears to have been the consecration of the chapel ; and on the west, figures are seen bearing palm-branches, perhaps part of a fresco representing our Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The inscriptions may be ascribed beyond doubt to the twelfth century, and the name Bernard Witard occurs on one of the faces. In the cartulary of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre the name of Johannes Guitard (Witard) is found, and Mons. Ganneau conjectures that Bernard belonged to the same family and defrayed the expenses of the monument. The paintings are sadly damaged, but they are said " to remind one of illuminations in a precious missal rather than an ordinary fresco drawn to hide the naked stone." JERUSALEM. 89 Theodericus, 1172 a.d., in his account of the Holy Places, states that Bethphage lay between Bethany and the Mount of Olives, and that there was then a " fair chapel " in which was to be seen the stone on which our Lord stood before mounting the ass — evidently the monolith which was discovered in 1877. There is thus no doubt as to the site of the mediaeval Bethphage, but it is doubtful whether the place is identical with the Bethphage of the gospel, of which no certain trace has yet been found. From the ruins of the little chapel the road descends to Bethany, now a small village of wretched hovels, surrounded by fig, olive, almond, and carob trees, which contrast pleasantly with the barren rocks of the adjoin- ing hills. The Arabic name of this place is El Azin'yeh, from Lazarus, and the most prominent object is the Castle of Lazarus, erected during the period of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Near the castle is the tomb ; a flight of steps leads down to a small square chamber, whence other steps give access to the vault in which the body of Lazarus is said to have been laid. The vault is lined with masonry, and has nothing in common with the rock-hewn tombs in which the Jews buried their dead. In Bethany are shown the houses of Mary and Martha and of Simon the Leper, and a short distance on the road to Jericho the place is pointed out at which Martha met Jesus. Though tradition may be at fault with regard to the tomb and 13 EXTERIOR OF THE GOLDEN GATE. Moslem tombs in the foreground. go PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. the houses, there can be no doubt as to the correctness of the identification of El Azariyeh with Bethany, the village in which Jesus lodged before the last Passover, and in the immediate vicinity of which He called Lazarus forth from the grave. The Roman road from Jericho to Jerusalem, after leaving Bethany, winds round the southern slope of the Mount of Olives, and, passing above Siloam, ascends the Kedron Valley to the Garden of Gethsemane. Over this road Jesus must often have travelled with his disciples, and there is one place, where the road is partly hewn out of the rock, which has apparently undergone no change since the days of His earthly ministry. It was by this road, too, that our Saviour made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an MOSQUE AND CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION, MOUNT OF OLIVES. event which is so graphically described by the Dean of Westminster that we venture to borrow his words : " Two vast streams of people met that day. The one poured out from the city (John xii. 13) ; and as they came through the gardens whose clusters of palm-trees rose on the south-eastern corner of Olivet, they cut down the long branches, as was their wont at the Feast of Tabernacles, and moved upwards towards Bethany with loud shouts of welcome. From Bethany streamed forth the crowds who had assembled there on the previous night, and who came testifying to the great event at the sepulchre of Lazarus. In going towards Jerusalem the road soon loses sight of Bethany. It is now a rough but still broad and well- defined mountain track, winding over loose rock and stones, and here and there deeply exca- vated ; a steep declivity below on the left, the sloping shoulder of Olivet above it on the right ; JERUSALEM. 91 NEBY SAMWIL, FROM THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. The highest mountain near Jerusalem, 3,006 feet above the sea. of Olives towards Jerusalem. fig-trees below and above, growing out of the rocky soil. Along the road the multitudes threw down the branches which they cut as they went along, or spread out a rude matting formed of the palm- branchcs they had already cut as they came out. The larger portion — those perhaps who escorted Him from Bethany- unwrapped their loose cloaks from their shoulders and stretched them along the rough path to form a momentary carpet as he approached (Matt. xxi. 8). The two streams met. Half of the vast mass, turning round, preceded ; the other half followed (Mark xi. 9). Gradually the long procession swept round the little valley that furrows the hill, and over the ridge on its western side, where first begins the descent of the Mount At this point the first view is caught of the south-western 92 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. corner of the city. The temple and the more northern portions are hid by the slope of Olivet on the right; what is seen is only Mount Zion, now for the most part a rough field, crowned TRADITIONAL SITE OF BETHPHAGE, THE HOUSE OF FIGS. On the ridge which leads from the Mount of Olives to the hill above Bethany. Fig-trees grow by the wayside, and branches of the fig-tree border the picture. with the Mosque of David and the angle of the western walls, but then covered with houses to its base, surmounted by the Castle of Herod, on the supposed site of the Palace of David, from which that portion of Jerusalem, emphatically the ' City of David,' derived its name. It JERUSALEM. 93 was at this precise point, ' as he drew near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives ' — (may it not have been from the sight thus opening upon them ?) — that the shout of triumph burst forth from the multitude, ' Hosanna to the Son of David ! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.' (Matt. xxi. 9). There was a pause as the shout rang through the long defile ; and as the Pharisees who stood by in the crowd complained, He pointed to the stones, which, strewn beneath their feet, would immediately cry out if ' these were to hold their PART OF THE NORTH WALL OF JERUSALEM, Formed of the native rock blended with masonry. A shepherd in the foreground is playing a double-reed pipe. 94 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. peace.' Again the procession advanced. The road descends a slight declivity, and the glimpse of the city is again withdrawn behind the intervening ridge of Olivet. A few moments and the path mounts again ; it climbs a rugged ascent, it reaches a ledge of smooth rock, and in an instant the whole city bursts into view. As now the dome of the Mosque El Aksa rises like a ghost from the earth before the traveller who stands on the ledge, so then must have risen the Temple tower; as now the vast enclosure of the Mussulman sanctuary, so then must have spread the Temple courts ; as now the gray town on its broken hills, so then the magnificent city, with its background — long since vanished away — of gardens and suburbs on the western plateau behind. Immediately below was the Valley of the Kedron, here seen in its greatest depths as it joins the Valley of Hinnom, and thus giving full effect to the great peculiarity of Jerusalem, seen only on its eastern side — its situation as of a city rising out of a deep abyss. It is hardly possible to doubt that this rise and turn of the road — this rocky ledge — was the exact point where the multitude paused again, and ' He, when He beheld the city, wept over it.' " The road from Bethany to Jerusalem leaves Siloam (Silwan) on the left. This village (see pages 85, 115), which derives its name from the pool at the mouth of the Tyropoeon Valley, stretches north and south in a straggling, irregular manner along the lower slopes of the Mount of Offence. Entering the village at the northern end, the visitor has on his left hand a high cliff, which was evidently worked as a quarry at some early period. The houses and the streets of Siloam, if such they may be called, are filthy in the extreme, and the villagers are notorious thieves, sometimes not over-courteous to visitors. Their principal occupation is carrying water from " Job's Well " for sale in Jerusalem, and they have an ingenious way of blowing out the sheepskins in which the water is carried, so that they may appear filled when containing only half the proper quantity of water. About one hundred of the villagers form a group apart from the rest, called "men of Dhiban," the descendants apparently of a colony from the capital of King Mesha, which at some remote period crossed the Jordan and established itself on the borders of Kedron. Siloam, the village, is unmen- tioned in ancient times, but it may possibly mark the spot upon which Solomon built high places " for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom (Molech) the abomination of the children of Ammon." The Mount of Offence (see page 107) behind the village would in this .case be the " mount of corruption" of 2 Kings xxiii. 13, as it certainly is the " mons offensionis " of early travellers, the " opprobrious hill " of Milton. Jerusalem is surrounded by cemeteries, ancient and modern. Without the Zion Gate, near the tomb of David, are those of the Latins, Greeks, and Armenians ; and here may be seen the grave of the ill-fated Irishman, Costigan, who, after having successfully descended Jordan in a boat, and reached the southern end of the Dead Sea, died in the Latin convent at Jerusalem. Here, too, a little to the south of the Latin cemetery, two members of the American Mission, Dr. Dodge and Mrs. Thomson, were buried. The present Protestant JERUSALEM. 95 cemetery is on the western slope of the same hill, above the Valley of Hinnom ; it is the only burial-place near Jerusalem which is efficiently closed and properly tended. Within its walls lie the. remains of the two first Anglican bishops of Jerusalem — Dr. Alexander and 'Dr. Gobat — and also those of Mr. Tyrwhitt Drake, who died of fever, due to exposure and over-exertion whilst engaged on the great work of the survey of Palestine. The Moslem cemeteries are — first, that extending along the eastern wall of the city, from a little north of St. Stephen's Gate to the vicinity of the south-east angle of the Haram esh Sherif, which, from its proximity to the sacred area, is most esteemed ; second, the ground above Jeremiah's Grotto ; and, third, the extensive cemetery round the Birket Mamilla, near the head of the Valley of Hinnom (see page 102). The great Jewish cemetery is on the western slope of the Mount of Olives ; it extends northwards from Siloam, and runs up the hill almost to the Tombs of the Prophets. In places, especially near Absalom's Pillar and the Tomb of Zacharias, the ground is literally paved with tombstones (see pages 82 and 85). The simplest form of tomb is that in which a common grave is sunk in the rock, and a reveal cut round its mouth to receive a covering slab. In some cases the slab is flush with the surface- of the rock ; in others it is raised above it and ornamented like the lid of a sarcophagus. Another simple form of tomb, to which the name of " trough grave " has been given, is that in which an arched recess is cut in the face of the rock and a common grave sunk in its floor. A third simple form is that in which a rectangular space is cut into the vertical face of the rock, after the manner of an oven, extending six feet or more horizontally inwards, and sufficiently wide and high to admit of a corpse being pushed in. The opening is closed by a stone slab or by a rough unhewn mass of rock. Such a grave is called in the Talmud a " kok " (pi. " kokim "). A fourth kind of tomb is the " shelf grave " — a shelf or bench, six feet long, cut in the vertical face of the rock, upon which the corpse was laid even when it had first been placed in a sarcophagus. The most comm'on description of tomb is that in which a number of kokim, shelf, or trough graves are grouped together in one or more chambers of the same excavation. These tombs may be divided into three classes. The first class is that in which a natural cavern in one of the softer strata of limestone is adapted to sepulchral purposes. Kokim are cut in the sides of the cave, with their beds on a level with the ground, and the openings are then closed with rough stone slabs resting against the face of the rock or fitting more closely into the excavation. In this class of tomb no arrangement was made for closing the entrance to the cavern. It seems not improbable that these tombs were used for the burial of the poor, and they were perhaps constructed at the public expense. In the second class of tomb a square or oblong chamber is carefully cut in the solid rock ; the entrance is by a low square opening, closed either by a closely fitting stone slab or by a stone door turning on a socket hinge and secured by bolts on the inside. These tombs, remarkable for the care which has been bestowed on the excavation, were probably the family vaults of wealthy people. The third class of tomb is that in which one entrance leads to several tomb-chambers, each containing a large number of graves, and sometimes sarcophagi. 96 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. One of the best examples of this class is the Tombs of the Kings (see page 103), situated to the north of Jerusalem on the right-hand side of the road to Nablus. A large rectangular court, measuring about ninety-three feet by eighty-seven feet, and some twenty feet deep, is sunk in the solid rock, which here forms the natural surface of the ground. On the south side a broad trench was cut so as to leave a wall of rock seven feet thick between it and the court ; a flight of steps leads to the bottom of the trench, whence an arched doorway, cut in the intervening rock, gives access to the court. In the west face of the court an open portico is excavated in the rock ; the front was supported by two pillars, which are now broken away. The face of the portico is ornamented with a frieze and cornice of a debased Roman Doric THE QUARRIES NEAR TO THE DAMASCUS GATE. Beneath the city of Jerusalem. order ; the former is enriched with clusters of grapes, triglyphs, and paterae, and a continuous garland of fruit and foliage, which extends across the portico and is carried down the sides. About half a mile from the Tombs of the Kings, on the road to Neby Samwil, is the extensive necropolis which includes the Tombs of the Judges (see page 103). Within an open vestibule facing west, ornamented with a simple architrave moulding, surmounted by a Greek-looking pediment of considerable beauty, there is a small doorway, also decorated with architrave and pediment, which leads from the vestibule to the principal tomb-chamber. Returning to the Kedron Valley and following its course downwards, numbers of tombs of greater or less size are to be seen on either side. The most noteworthy is that of Simon JERUSALEM. 97 the Just, to which the Jews resort the thirty-third day after the Passover to celebrate the memory of the son of Onias, who was high priest during the reign of Ptolemy Soter. We now come to the well-known group of tombs in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the first being " Absalom's Tomb" (see page 83). The lower part of this monument is a mass of solid rock about twenty feet square, which has been completely detached from the cliff behind it by working away a passage ten feet in width at the sides and nine at the back, so as to leave the tomb standing in a square recess hewn out of the cliff. It contains a chamber eight feet square, with shelf graves on two sides for the reception of sarcophagi. The original door was GROTTO OF JEREMIAH. In the foreground is a goatherd playing on a double-reed pipe. situated immediately above the cornice, and a few steps led down to the chamber. Another more modern door consisted of a horizontal passage on a level with the chamber, and opening to the exterior, at half the height of the monument. In the face of the rock behind the monolith is the entrance to the Tomb of Jehoshaphat, surmounted by a pediment in the same style as that of the Tombs of the Judges (see page 82). The door leads to an antechamber, whence three other chambers open out, one of which gives access to a small cell. The next tomb is that of St. James, which is excavated in the face of the rock (see page 85). A screen with two Doric pillars supports a frieze and cornice of the same order. Above the cornice 98 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. there is an inscription in Hebrew, connecting the tomb with the family of Beni-Hezir, and the whole is supposed to date from the second or first century B.C. The Tomb of Zechariah is excavated in the same manner as the Tomb of Absalom. It is about eighteen feet six inches square, and has on each face two whole and two half engaged Ionic columns. The columns are surmounted by a cornice of purely Assyrian type, but the form of the volutes, and the egg and dart moulding beneath, show that it was ornamented after the influence of Roman art had been felt in Palestine. Above the cornice rises a pyramid also cut out of the rock. There is no visible entrance to the Tomb of Zechariah, but the base is hidden by rubbish, and the door may possibly be concealed. Above these tombs, some distance up the slope of the Mount of Olives, is a curious sepulchral excavation in the soft chalk called the " Tombs of the Prophets." The entrance is by a hole in the ground, which gives access to a circular chamber having a round hole in the roof, probably intended to admit light. Three passages connected by two semicircular galleries run off from the chamber, and there are a few smaller passages which lead to chambers containing two or three kokim each. Mons. Ganneau, whilst examining this curious crypt, was fortunate enough to discover, under the stucco which covers the walls, a dozen or so Greek Christian inscriptions. The greater part are proper names. With the patronymic twice occurs the formula, " here lies," and " courage, no one is immortal." This crypt probably served as a cemetery to some one of the numerous monasteries founded quite early on the Mount of Olives. In the Kedron Valley, about half a mile below Bir Eyub, there is a remarkable tomb consisting of a vestibule, an antechamber, three tomb chambers with kokim, and a fourth apparently unfinished. The next extensive group of tombs is that in the lower part of the Valley of Hinnom. Many of these are highly interesting from the fact that they have been made or modified at a later date than those on the north side of the city. Some of the roofs are dome-shaped and ornamented, and near the lower end of the series there are two recessed half domes cut in the rock, with stone benches running round them. Most of the entrances seem to have been closed by a stone door which turned on a socket hinge, and was fastened by bolts on the inside. Leaving the bed of the valley a little above Bir Eyub, and ascending by some rock- hewn steps, the first tomb worthy of notice is that called the " Apostles' Cave," from the tradition that eight of the twelve Apostles concealed themselves in it after the betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane (see page 1 14). Over the entrance is a frieze, ornamented with bunches of grapes, &c., in the same style as the facade of the Tombs of the Kings. A little further on is the building known as "Aceldama" (see page iio). It consists of a large pointed arch, covering a deep chamber, one side of which is composed of rock with masonry buttresses, the other of masonry. At the bottom are two caves or sepulchral chambers, with kokim and traces of steps which at one time must have led to the bottom. This is supposed to be the " potter's field," or " field of blood," which the chief priests bought with the " thirty pieces of silver," the price of our Lord's betrayal. It may not be without interest to note JERUSALEM. lOI excavated in this stratum. Captain Warren's excavations have shown us the deep rugged character of the Tyropoeon Valley in its normal state, and, judging from what is seen in the surrounding valleys, the malaki bed would appear on each side of the valley as a cliff ; in the face of this cliff were, in all probability, the entrances to the tombs of David and the other kings who were buried in the City of David. David's Tomb appears to have been the lowest, or that nearest Siloam ; the others were higher up the valley, and some at least, we may infer from Ezekiel xliii. 7, 8, were close to the Temple. There can be no reasonable doubt that excavations properly directed would recover these tombs. The works connected with the water supply of Jerusalem are of very great interest. It is well known that in the many sieges which the Holy City has sustained the besiegers without the walls suffered from want of water, whilst the besieged within were amply supplied. The cisterns hewn out of the ,rock for the storage of water in the Haram esh Sherif have already been alluded to, but they only formed part of the general scheme for the supply of water to the whole city. The present supply is deficient in quantity and as a rule bad in quality ; to this may be attributed the fact that the city which the Psalmist once described in loving terms as " the joy of the whole earth," has become one of the most unhealthy cities of the world. The plateau on the edge of which the city is situated slopes uniformly to the south-east, and contains about one thousand acres ; it is composed of white, yellow, and buff limestones of the age of the English chalk. The upper beds, from eighteen inches to four feet in thickness, provide an extremely hard compact stone, called by the Arabs " missae ; " whilst the lower, some forty feet in thickness, consist of a soft white stone termed " malaki." In this latter bed most of the ancient tombs and cisterns at Jerusalem have been excavated. The strata are much broken and cracked, so that the rain readily sinks into the ground, and finds its way downwards through a thousand hidden channels, to be given out at a lower level. The general direction of this underground flow and of the surface drainage of the plateau is towards Bir Eyub ("Job's Well"), below the junction of the two main ravines, Kedron and Hinnom (see page 117). It was at one time supposed that the quantity of rain which fell at Jerusalem each year was very large, from fifty to eighty inches, but the average annual rainfall is really not more than about nineteen inches, and the rainy season is spread over the winter months from November to March. During the remaining months even a slight shower is of the rarest occurrence, and the heavens become, to use the graphic language of the Bible, as "brass," and the earth as " iron." Every three or four years there is a fall of snow, which lies on the ground for a day or two ; and, on the other hand, there is occasionally an almost total failure of rain. The number of cisterns and reservoirs which were excavated or built for the collection of the rainfall, and the skill exhibited in the construction of the conduits that brought water into the city, show pretty clearly that there has been no material change in the climate since the days of the Jewish monarchy. 102 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. The modern supply of water is derived from springs, wells, cisterns, pools, or reservoirs, and springs connected with the city by aqueducts. The only true spring known to exist in Jerusalem at the present day is the " Fountain VALLEY OF HINNOM, FROM THE NORTH-WEST ANGLE OF THE CITY WALL. On the right is the aqueduct from Solomon's Pools, which crosses the valley just above the Birket es Sultan, commonly called the Lower Pool of Gihon. The large building within the city walls, surrounded with trees, is the Armenian Monastery. of the Virgin." This spring has a constant though small flow of water, and also an intermittent one, which appears to depend upon the rainfall, and which consists in a sudden THE BUCKET MAMILLA, COMMONLY CALLED THE UPPER POOL OF GIHON. Surrounded by Moslem tombs. In the background the Jaffa Gate is shown, with the Citadel on the right and the Anglican Church on the left. increase of the ordinary flow. In winter there are from three to five flows per diem ; in summer two ; later on, in autumn, only one ; but after a dry winter the flow takes place only JERUSALEM. once in three or four days. The water is conveyed from the spring to the Upper Pool ' of Siloam (see page 77) by a v passage cut in the rock, and thence runs down to irrigate some gardens. Its taste is slightly salt and decidedly un- pleasant, owing chiefly to the fact that the water has filtered through the mass of rubbish and filth on which the city stands. This peculiarity in the taste is intensified at Siloam, as the water passes over a slimy deposit, from two to three inches deep, which covers the bottom of the passage. The people make matters worse by bathing and washing their clothes in the same place from which they draw water for drinking purposes. The passage between the spring and the Upper Pool of Siloam is seventeen I'- ROCK TOMBS NORTH OF JERUSALEM. The Tombs of the Judges on the road to Neby Sam- wil, and the Tombs of the Kings on the road to Nabliis. I04 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. hundred feet long, about two feet wide, and from one foot ten inches to sixteen feet in height. The lower portion is not easy to pass through, especially if the spring commences to flow whilst the explorer is engaged in making the attempt. In connection with the passage Captain Warren opened out a rock-hewn canal, which ran for some distance due west, with a slight fall, so that the water from the spring could flow down to the western end, where a shallow basin had been excavated to receive it. From this point a circular shaft, more than forty feet high, led upwards to a great corridor excavated in the rock, whence a flight of steps gave access to the surface at a point, on that portion of Mount Moriah known as Ophel, which must have been well within the ancient walls of the city. It was thus possible for the Jews on the approach of an enemy to close or "seal " the well with blocks of stone, and at the same time procure a supply of water for their own use by means of the shaft or well within the walls. In the corridor three glass lamps of curious construction were found placed at intervals, as if to light up the passage to the shaft. A little pile of charcoal, as if for cooking, a dish glazed inside, jars of red pottery, and other lamps, were also found, as well as an iron ring overhanging the shaft, to which a rope might have been attached for drawing water. The Virgin's Fountain derives its name from the tradition that the Virgin drew water from the well and washed the swaddling clothes there. The only real well at Jerusalem is Bir Eyub, Job's Well (see page 120), situated a little below the junction of the Kedron and Hinnom Valleys. It has a depth of one hundred and twenty-five feet, and the water, which is collected in a large rock-hewn chamber at the bottom, is derived from the drainage of the two valleys and their offshoots. The supply is directly dependent on the rainfall, and in winter the water occasionally rises above the shaft and flows down the valley in a stream. This generally occurs in January, after from three to five consecutive days' rain. At a depth of one hundred and thirteen feet there is a large chamber, from the bottom of which a shaft leads downwards to the present collector. This seems to indicate that the well was deepened at some period. There is much rubbish in this part of the valley, and the plan in constructing the well seems to have been to try and stop out the surface drainage, which might be charged with impurities from the city, and to depend entirely on the water which runs in freely between the lower beds of the limestone. The well, which is one of the principal sources of supply to the poorer classes, is inconveniently situated at the foot of a steep hill, and the water has to be carried to Jerusalem in goat skins. This traffic is almost entirely in the hands of the villagers of Silwan (Siloam), who charge from one penny to sixpence per skin for water delivered in the city, and are much given to cheating by partly filling the skins with air. The water of Bir Eyub has, though in a much less degree, the peculiar taste of that of Siloam. This probably arises from the fact that the surface drainage from the city is imperfectly stopped out. In the Tyropoeon Valley there is a well that supplies water to the Turkish bath in the old Cotton Market. The shaft of the well, eighty feet deep, passes entirely through rubbish, and at its foot there is a rock-hewn conduit stretching in a southerly direction, in which the THE CITADEL OF JERUSALEM FROM THE VALLEY OF HINNOM. io6 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. water lies. This conduit was probably connected with that discovered near Robinson's Arch, which was cut when the present south-west angle of the Haram esh Sherif was built, and it possibly formed part of the great system of water supply devised by King Hezekiah. The supply of water is due partly to infiltration, and partly, perhaps, to the flow of water from a SARACENIC FOUNTAIN ON THE AQUEDUCT FROM SOLOMON'S POOLS. The causeway, to which the aqueduct forms a parapet on the north side, crosses the Valley of Hinnom just above the Birket es Sultan. concealed spring higher up the valley. In either case it passes through the foul mass of rubbish on which the city now stands, and acquires a nauseous taste. There are four classes of cisterns in Jerusalem. First, those which have been formed by sinking deep shafts through the rock, and then making a bottle or retort-shaped excavation at the bottom to act as a collector. These cisterns appear to be of very great age. They derive their supply in part from surface drainage and in part from the water which finds its way in JERUSALEM. 107 between the beds of limestone ; even in the driest summer the percolation gives three or four buckets of water between sunset and sunrise. The second class, of which the "great sea" in front of the Mosque el Aksa is a good type, consists of great tanks, from forty to sixty feet deep, which have been formed by making small openings in the hard overlying beds of lime- stone (" missae "), and then excavating the softer " malaki " beneath. The roofs are of rock, generally strong enough to stand by themselves, but in the larger cisterns supported by rough MOUNT OF OFFENCE FROM THE VALLEY OF HINNOM pillars left for the purpose. The labour ex- pended in mining out the underlying rock and bringing it to the surface through small open- ings must have been very great, and it seems natural to suppose that these cisterns were made before the use of the arch for covering large openings became general. The third class comprises those in which the rock has been cut perpendicularly downwards and a plain covering arch thrown over the excavation. Such cisterns are found near the Golden Gate, beneath the platform of the Dome of the Rock, and in various places in the city. The cisterns of the second and third class were formerly supplied by aqueducts, now they have to depend on surface drainage. The fourth description of cistern is that which has been built in the rubbish of the city, and is of modern date. Cisterns of this io8 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. class are entirely dependent on the rain which falls during the winter ; those which have been constructed by Europeans in convents and dwelling-houses are good, and, being carefully cleaned out every year, furnish water that is always clean and sweet. Such, however, is not the case with those in the native houses ; when the rain commences, as much as possible is collected, even from the streets, which, being the common latrine of the city, are by the end of the rainy season in a very filthy state. Every duct is opened, and all the summer's accumulation of rubbish and refuse is carried from roof and courtyard to the cistern below. During the early part of summer little evil arises, but towards autumn the water gets low, the buckets in descending stir up the deposit, and the mixture which thousands then have to use as their daily beverage is almost too horrible to think of. At this time, too, a sort of miasma seems to rise up from the refuse and the fever season commences. The most remarkable cisterns are those in the Haram esh Sherif, and the cistern of Helena near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre ; there are, however, a vast number both within and without the city, and some of them are of great size. The pools or reservoirs of which remains exist at present are — the Birket Mamilla, the Birket es Sultan, the Birket Sitti Mariam, the two Pools of Siloam, and a pool near the Tombs of the Kings, without the walls; and the so-called Pools of Hezekiah and Bethesda within the city. There is also undoubted tradition of pools near the Jaffa Gate, the Gate of the Chain, and the Church of St. Anne ; these are now concealed by rubbish. The Birket Mamilla collects the surface drainage of the upper part of the Valley of Hinnom, and transmits its water to the Pool of Hezekiah by a conduit which passes under the city wall a little to the north of the Jaffa Gate, and has a branch running down to the cisterns in the Citadel (see page 102). The average depth of the pool is nineteen feet ; it is three hundred and fifteen feet long, and two hundred and eight feet wide ; the estimated capacity is eight million gallons, but there is a large accumulation of rubbish at the bottom, and it now holds water imperfectly. The pool has not been well placed for collecting the drainage, as that from the western slope is lost, but the position was necessary to obtain a level high enough to supply the Pool of Hezekiah and the Citadel. A hole in the ground below the lower end of the pool gives access to a flight of steps leading down to a small chamber, where the conduit, which on leaving the pool is twenty-one inches square, narrows to nine inches, so as to allow of an arrangement for regulating the flow of water into the city. The Birket Mamilla has sometimes been identified with the Upper Pool of Gihon, but it is more probably the Serpent Pool mentioned by Josephus, a name which may have had its origin in the Dragon's Well of Nehemiah, which seems to have been situated to the west of Jerusalem. The Birket es Sultan (see page 102) lies in the Valley of Hinnom, but at so low a level that its only use could have been the irrigation of gardens lower down the valley. The pool does not now hold water ; it is, however, of considerable extent, and would contain about nineteen million gallons. The reservoir has been formed by building a solid dam or causeway across the valley, and closing the upper end by a slight embankment ; at the sides the rock is left for the most part in its natural state. Immediately JERUSALEM. above the pool the aqueduct from Solomon's Pools crosses the valley (see page io6), and a road, which may have existed at an early date, passes over the causeway. The Birket es Sultan was repaired by Sultan Suleiman, hence its name, but it appears to have existed at an early date, and was sometimes identified with the Lower Pool of Gihon ; during the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem it was called Germanus. The Birket Sitti Miriam is a small pool near St. Stephen's Gate, which still holds water ; it receives little or no surface drainage, and must always have been supplied by the conduit of which the mouth is still to be seen in the north-east corner of the reservoir. The two Pools of Siloam (see pages 77 and 79) are situated in the Tyropoeon Valley not far from its mouth. The upper and smaller pool receives its supply of water from the Fountain of the Virgin by means of the remarkable rock-hewn conduit which has already been noticed ; the water runs off at the south-east corner, and after having been used by the washerwomen of the city passes on to irrigate the gardens below. From the centre of the pool rises the broken shaft of a column ; at the south-west corner a rude flight of steps leads to the bottom ; at one place there are some piers rapidly going to ruin ; and all round the pool there is a large accumulation of rubbish. The remains which are seen now probably date from the twelfth century ; but in the early part of the seventh century there was a round basilica, from under which the water rose, with two marble reservoirs, and enclosures with wooden railings. The largest pool in the neighbourhood of the city was probably that which lies to the left of the main road which leads northward from Jerusalem, a little beyond the Tombs of the Kings. It is now nearly filled with soil washed down by the winter rains, but at the upper end there is still a shallow excavation which holds water, and at the lower end the scarped rock is visible. The pool is admirably situated for collecting the surface drainage of the upper branches of the Kedron Valley, but all attempts to discover the conduit by which it transmitted its water to the city have hitherto been unsuccessful. The Pool of Hezekiah (see page 13), within the city, is situated close to Christian Street; it receives its principal supply of water from the Birket Mamilla without the walls, and it is calculated to hold about four million gallons. The masonry does not appear to be very old, and but a small portion of the pool has been formed by actual excavation. The cement is bad and out of repair, and the bottom is covered with a thick deposit of vegetable mould, the accumulation of several years. When the pool is full in winter no inconvenience arises, but in autumn, when the water gets low, exhalations rise up which have a bad effect on the health of those who live in the neighbourhood. The water is chiefly used in the Turkish " Bath of the Patriarch," whence the pool derives its local name, " Pool of the Patriarch's Bath ; " the Christian name, " Pool of Hezekiah," comes from the tradition that it was made by that king, as in 2 Kings XX. 20 : " Hezekiah made a pool and a conduit and brought water into the city." There is, perhaps, better reason for identifying the pool with that called by Josephus Amygdalon, where the celebrated tenth legion raised a bank against the city walls during the siege by Titus. The Pool of Bethesda, or Birket Israil, does not now hold water ; it is I lO PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. filled with rubbish to a height of thirty-eight feet, and receives the drainage of the houses in the vicinity (see page 66). At the east end Captain Warren discovered an overflow ACELDAMA. arrangement by which the surplus waters could be discharged into the Kedron Valley. The source from which it originally derived its supply of water is not known, but at a later period SUMMIT OF THE HILL OF EVIL COUNSEL. This weird-looking solitary tree is a landmark for miles around. it appears to have been connected with the aqueduct which brought water from Solomon's Pools. The Birket Israil has generally been called the Pool of Bethesda, or " Sheep Pool," by JERUSALEM. 1 1 1 pilgrims and others who have identified it with the pool mentioned in John v. 2 : "Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue THE VALLEY OF HINNOM. Ancient tombs on the left and terraces planted with olive-trees on the right. Bethesda, having five porches." Two arches at the west end of the pool are said to be two of the five porches. In the time of the Crusades there was a well or pool near the Church of St. Anne, over which a church was built ; this well was said to be the place where the angel troubled the waters. Eusebius and Jerome say that the Pool of Bethesda was shown at the double pools, one of which was supplied by the periodical rains, 112 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. whilst the other had reddish water, " as they say, from the sacrifices ; " but they give no indication of its position. The Bourdeaux pilgrim says that the double pools were more within the city than the two large pools at the side of the Temple, and that the water was muddy and of a scarlet colour. This discoloration of the water no doubt arose from the quantity of rich red loamy earth which was carried into the pool after heavy rain. The actual position of the biblical Bethesda is uncertain ; Dr. Robinson has suggested that it is identical with the Fountain of the Virgin, but the more general view is that the pool was to the north of the Temple, either in the position modern tradition assigns to it or farther to the west, where the souterrains connected with the Convent of the Sisters of Zion mark the position of a double pool in the old ditch. Near the Cotton Gate of the Haram there is said to have been a. reservoir some years ago, and there was another close to the Jaffa Gate, which was called the Pool or Bath of Bathsheba on the supposition that David dwelt in the Tower of David opposite. One of the aqueducts from Solomon's Pools is repaired occasionally and then delivers water to the cisterns of the Haram esh Sherif, and supplies some of the beautiful fountains in the city ; but the repairs rarely last for any length of time, and the aqueducts may be considered as forming part of the ancient rather than. of the modern system of water supply. The ancient supply was partly derived from the same sources as the modern one, but the inhabitants appear to have depended chiefly on water brought from a distance by aqueducts and stored in pools and cisterns. Of the springs, wells, pools, &c., mentioned in the Bible and Josephus, Enrogel may almost certainly be identified with the Fountain of the Virgin, and the same spring is probably Gihon in the valley (2 Chron. xxxiii. 14), as vacJial, the word rendered valley, is always employed for the Valley of the Kedron ; the water running from the Fountain may also be identified with the waters of Shiloah (Isaiah viii. 6). So, too, the Fountain of Siloam of Josephus and the Pool of Siloam of the New Testament may be placed at the modern Pool of Siloam, which is fed from the Virgin's Fountain. There is, however, a passage in the Mishna which describes Siloam as being in the midst of the city, and Dr. Lightfoot asserts that there is a difference in the Hebrew between the Siloah of Nehemiah and the Shiloah of Isaiah ; a distinction which seems, on one occasion at least, to be made by Josephus. The Septuagint, too, whilst rendering the latter Siloam, translates the former as " the Pool of the Sheep-skins." From this it may almost be inferred that there was another pool called Siloah higher up the Tyropoeon Valley, a position which would be more in accordance with the conditions required by the description of the rebuilding and dedication of the walls under Nehemiah. Gihon is mentioned in two other passages in the Bible : in i Kings i. 33, Solomon is said to have been anointed at Gihon ; and in 2 Chron. xxxii. 30, Hezekiah is described as having stopped the upper source of Gihon, and as having brought the waters straight down to the west side of the city of David. The Targum of Jonathan, and the Syriac and Arabic versions, have Shiloha for Gihon in Kings, whilst in Chronicles they agree with the Hebrew JERUSALEM. text in having Gihon. Josephus, however, states that David ordered Zadok and Benaiah to carry Solomon " out of the city to the fountain called Gihon and to anoint him there." The spring stopped by Hezekiah appears to have been some distance up the Tyropoeon Valley. Its position has not yet been discovered, but the rock-hewn conduit which has been found running along the bed of the Tyropoeon Valley is believed to be the work of Hezekiah, and the water which sometimes finds its way through it may come from the spring. No well has yet been discovered at Jerusalem except Bir Eyub (Job's Well), but others may possibly exist beneath the rubbish. Close to Bir Eyub there is a remarkable work which must have involved a great expenditure of time and labour. It consists of a drift or tunnel some six feet high and from two to three feet wide, cut in the solid rock. The tunnel is more than eighteen hundred feet long, and runs beneath the western side of the bed of the valley at a depth of from seventy to ninety feet from the surface. It is reached at certain intervals by flights of rock-hewn steps. The object of this tunnel seems to have been the collection of the water running- in between the beds of limestone, and it is interestinor to find that a work of such magnitude was considered necessary at a level so much lower than that of the city. It clearly shows that there must always have been some difficulty in providing Jerusalem with water. The most important system of supply was, however, that by which water was brought into the city from the south by aqueducts. The supply was derived from three sources, and the conduits were apparently constructed at different periods. They were of considerable extent, and the remains exhibit a degree of engineering skill which could not well be surpassed at the present day. The first works, and perhaps the most ancient, are those connected with the Pools of Solomon. These pools, three in number, are cleverly and well constructed in the bed of a valley not far from Bethlehem, and they are so situated that the water from each of the upper pools can be run off into the one immediately below it as the supply is drawn upon. The water was first carried to Bethlehem, and, passing under that town through a tunnel, was finally delivered in the Temple area at Jerusalem. From the pools to Bethlehem the fall of the conduit is about one in eight hundred, but from Bethlehem to Jerusalem it is only one in five thousand two hundred. The total length is seventy thousand feet, and the total fall thirty-two feet, which gives a mean fall of less than two and a half feet per mile. This conduit, to which the name " low-level aqueduct " has been given, crosses the Valley of Hinnom a little above the Birket es Sultan (see page io6) on several pointed arches, which just show their heads above ground, and, winding round the southern slope of the modern Sion, enters the city near the Jewish almshouses. It then passes along the eastern side of the same hill, partly supported by masonry and partly through a tunnel, until, taking a sudden turn eastward, it runs over the causeway and Wilson's Arch, and enters the Haram esh Sherif at the Gate of the Chain. The numerous Saracenic fountains in the lower part of the city were supplied by pipes branching off from the main aqueduct. The channels and conduits in 16 114 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE, the Haram esh Sherif are in such a bad state of repair and so choked with rubbish that it is impossible to trace them without excavation, but sufficient is known of them to show that there was at one time an elaborate system of waterworks, which provided for the delivery and overflow of the water brought by the low-level aqueduct. The waste overflow appears to have passed through one of the passages discovered by Mons. de Saulcy beneath the Triple CAVES IN THE VALLEY OF HLNNOM, EAST OF ACELDAMA, interesting, on account of the great skill shown called the " high-level aqueduct," from the fact more than one hundred feet above that of the supply the western hill of Jerusalem, In a Gate into the main drain of the eastern hill, which discharged itself into the Kedron Valley a little below the Fountain of the Virgin, As a large supply of water must have been necessary immediately upon the institution of the Temple services, and as there was not sufficient at Jerusalem itself, there seems no reason for doubting the current tradition that this aqueduct, and perhaps one or more of the pools, were the work of Solomon, The works connected with the second source of water supply are, perhaps, the most in their construction. The conduit has been that it must have delivered water at a level low-level aqueduct, and sufficiently high to valley called Wady Byar, to the south of JERUSALEM. Solomon's Pools, there is a place known as the " Well of the Steps," where a flight of steps gives access to a subterranean chamber from sixty to seventy feet below the surface of the valley. From this chamber a well-constructed channel cut in the rock, and varying from five to twenty-five feet in height, leads up the valley for some distance until it terminates in a natural cleft of the rock, A similar channel follows the bed of the valley downwards for TOPHET, THE LOWER PORTION OF THE VALLEY OF HINNOM. The village of Silwan on the right, and the south-east corner of the Haram wall on the left. more than four miles, until it issues from the ground near a solid dam of masonry which extends right across the valley. This great tunnel, to facilitate the construction of which several shafts from sixty to seventy feet deep were sunk in the bed of the valley, was intended to catch the flood water of the valley, the dam being probably made to retain the water or prevent its running off before it had filtered down to the channel. There are a few small ii6 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. springs in tlie side valleys which contributed to the supply, but the principal source was the flood water. This mode of collecting water is very common in Persia and Afghanistan, where the underground conduit is called a kariz ; but it is doubtful whether another instance could be found of a tunnel nearly five miles long cut in hard limestone. About six hundred yards below the dam the conduit enters another tunnel, seventeen hundred feet long, which at one point is one hundred and fifteen feet below the surface of the ground. Eleven shafts were sunk to aid the work of excavation, and the passage is in places fourteen feet high. After passing through the tunnel the conduit winds round the hill to the valley in which the Pools of Solomon lie. It then crosses that valley above the upper pool in an underground channel which tapped the Sealed Fountain, and formerly brought it, with its own waters, to the high level in Jerusalem. After leaving the pools the aqueduct at first runs along the side of the Valley of Urtas, but at a point not far from Bethlehem it enters a tank, and thence, when perfect, carried the water over the valley near Rachel's Tomb by means of an inverted syphon. This syphon was about two miles long, and consisted of perforated blocks of stone set in a mass of rubble masonry some three feet thick all round. The tube is fifteen inches in diameter, and the joints, which appear to have been ground or turned, are put together with an extremely hard cement. The whole work is a remarkable specimen of ancient engineering skill, and the labour bestowed on the details excites the admiration of all travellers. This portion is known amongst the native peasantry as the " Aqueduct of the Unbelievers." On approaching Jerusalem all trace of the conduit is lost. It has evidently been destroyed during one of the many sieges, and the point at which it entered the city is still uncertain. The most interesting feature, however, is that the supply was brought to Jerusalem at an elevation of twenty feet over the sill of the Jaffa Gate, and that the conduit would have been able to deliver water to the highest part of the city, and so provide an adequate supply for the whole population. Some persons have supposed that the high-level aqueduct supplied the Birket Mamilla and thence the Citadel ; but it seems not improbable that the conduit wound round the head of the Valley of Hinnom and entered the city at the north-west angle, where the Tower Psephinus stood. This view is supported by the discovery some years ago of a conduit within the Russian consular enclosure, which was afterwards found in some ground belonging to M. Bergheim without the city, and beneath the house of the Latin Patriarch within the walls. The direction of this conduit was towards the tower which most nearly agrees with the Hippicus of Josephus, that at the Jaffa Gate; and thence the water was in all probability carried onward to the Temple enclosure by the conduit which was discovered far below the level of the present surface when the English church and vicarage were built. The date of the high-level aqueduct has been the subject of some discussion, without any very satisfactory result. There is, however, a passage in Josephus which seems to throw some light on the question. In describing Herod's Palace, which occupied the site of the present Citadel, the historian states that " there were, moreover, several groves of trees and long walks through them, with deep canals and cisterns, that in several parts were filled with brazen JERUSALEM. I JERUSALEM FROM THE SOUTH. Showing the position of Bir Eyiib (Job's Well) just below the junction of the Kedron and Hinnom Valleys. Statues, through which the water ran out." This seems to imply the constant presence of running water ; and as the palace with its ^ gardens was distinctly the work of Herod the Great, it will perhaps not be very wrong to ascribe the construction of the aqueduct, with its remark- able syphon, to that monarch. The only known instance of a similar syphon is at Patara, in Asia Minor, but it does not show such high constructive skill as that at Jerusalem ii8 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE, The third source of supply was derived from several springs in a valley, Wady Arub, to the left of the road from Jerusalem to Hebron. One of the springs is estimated to yield as much as one hundred thousand gallons a day. It will thus be seen that Jerusalem was during the brighter period of its history well supplied with water ; and it may be inferred, from the numerous cisterns and conduits that have been found, that the supply was distributed throughout all quarters of the city. An English lady known throughout the world for her many kind actions, the Baroness Burdett Coutts, has on more than one occasion expressed a wish to construct at her own cost works which would give to every one in Jerusalem the most priceless of all gifts in the East, good water ; but hitherto all efforts to overcome the difficulties thrown in the way by the local government have been unavailing. The population of Jerusalem may be estimated at about twenty-one thousand, of which seven thousand are Moslems, nine thousand Jews, and five thousand Christians. The Moslems belong for the most part to the same race as the peasantry of Palestine, representatives it may be, though with a large intermixture of foreign blood, of the Jebusite that dwelt in the land. The higher classes, as a rule, pass most of their time in the bath, the mosque, or the bazaar, smoking, praying, or gossiping. The Turks, who for the most part belong to the official class, are very inferior to the Arabs in education and capacity ; whilst the fellahin are chiefly remarkable for their fine physique, and that keenness in barter which seems to distinguish the descendants of the ancient races that peopled the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. The Jews are divided into three principal divisions, the Sephardim, the Ashkenazim, and the Karaim. Nothing can be more striking than the marked difference in appearance and costume between the Sephardim and Ashkenazim. The former are far superior in culture and manners ; they have generally dark complexions, black hair, and regular features ; they are fairly industrious and honest ; they dress in Oriental costume, and are not wanting in a certain dignity. The Ashkenazim, on the other hand, have pale complexions and flaxen hair, from which two long love-locks hang down, one on either side of the face ; and they always wear the long Eastern robe (caftan), with a hat of felt or fur (see pages 40 and 82). The Sephardim speak Spanish, and trace their descent from the Jews who were driven from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella at the end of the fifteenth century; hence their name from Sepharad, the Spain of the Rabbins. They are Ottoman subjects, and their chief rabbi, who bears the title of Hakim Bashi, is a recognised official and has a certain degree of civil authority. The Sephardim have a curious tradition that their ancestors were settled in Spain before the date of the Crucifixion, and they thus claim to be exempt from the consequences of the outcry of the Jews, " His blood be upon us and our children." The Ashkenazim are chiefly of Polish origin, they or their immediate ancestors having come from German, Austrian, or Russian Poland. They are subdivided into Peroshim (Pharisees) and Khasidim (Cabalists). The former accept the Talmud, whilst the latter believe also in oral tradition and the transmigration of souls, study the Cabala, and in their religious worship JERUSALEM. 119 sometimes run into wild excess. The Karaim or Karaites, who do not acknowledge the authority of the Talmud, form a small community apart from the other sects. Much has been done during the last twenty years to ameliorate the condition of the Jews at Jerusalem by Sir Moses Montefiore, Baron Rothschild, and other wealthy European Jews, and every year sums of money are sent for distribution amongst the poor. The Christians are divided into a number of sects, of which the Orthodox Greek Church is the most influential. The Greek community consists of monks, nuns, shopkeepers, &c., very few of whom are natives of the country. The Patriarch of Jerusalem, who has several sees in Palestine subject to him, resides in the great monastery of St. Helena and Constantine. The Armenians are few in number, but they form a thriving community, and occupy one of the pleasantest quarters of Jerusalem (see page 102). The Armenian Monastery, with its church dedicated to St. James, is the largest and richest in the city. The spiritual head of the Armenians is the Patriarch of Jerusalem, a well-educated man, who resides in the monastery. The Georgians are now an insignificant body, but they had at one time eleven churches and monasteries in the Holy City, and even as late as the commencement of the sixteenth century had many rights and privileges not accorded to other Christians. All that now remains to them is the Convent of the Cross, about half an hour's ride from Jerusalem. The Syrians or Jacobites, so called from Jacobus Baradaeus, a heretical monk who lived in the sixth century, are few in number, and have as their sole possession in Jerusalem the little monastery known as the House of St. Mark. The Copts have a large monastery close to the eastern end of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was repaired a few years ago with funds provided by wealthy Copts in Egypt ; they have also a monastery near the Pool of Hezekiah. The Abyssinians occupy a few cells in the ruins of a monastery above the Chapel of Helena. They are extremely poor, and are said to have had much of their revenue and some of their buildings taken from them by their powerful neighbours the Copts. The Latins or Roman Catholics are the most numerous of the Western Christians. They possess the well-known Monastery of St. Salvator, the Church of the Scourging in the Via Dolorosa, the Convent of the Sisters of Sion, the Garden of Gethsemane, and other places. There is an excellent printing-press attached to the monastery, schools for both sexes, an industrial school, and a hospital. The monastery and other establishments are in the hands of the Franciscan monks, most of whom are Spaniards or Italians. Some of the monks are men of education and culture, and the printing-press has produced useful works in different languages. In 1847 Latin patriarchate, which had been in abeyance since the latter part of the thirteenth century, was revived, and Monsignor Valerga, who died in 1873, was appointed Patriarch. The Greek Catholic and Armenian Catholic Churches are affiliated to the Latin. The Protestant community, though small, is active in good works, and there are several excellent Protestant establishments in the city and its vicinity. The schools especially have had a marked effect, not only in supplying a good education themselves, but in inciting other 1 20 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. communities to improve their own schools, or to found schools when they had none. There are boys' and girls' schools for Jews, proselytes, and native Arabs, an industrial school for Jews, a church and parsonage, a hospital, a German girls' orphanage, a German boys' orphanage, a lepers' hospital, the hospital of the Kaiserswerth Deaconesses, a German Hospice of St. John, &c. The Protestant Bishop, under an agreement between England and Prussia, is nominated alternately by either power ; the first Bishop, Dr. Alexander, was nominated ];iK 1':yub— joii's well. by England, the second, Dr. Gobat, by Prussia, and the present Bishop, Dr. Barclay, by England. The full effect of the efforts which have been made to ameliorate the condition of the people of Jerusalem has, perhaps, hardly yet been felt, but gradually and surely education, with all its civilising influences, is forcing its way amongst all classes, and a time m.ay be looked forward to, in the not far distant future, when the good seed sown in the Holy City will bear fruit throughout the length and breadth of the Holy Land. BETHLEHEM. grave." The pillar has long since perished, though it existed there in the time of Moses, but other structures have preserved the memory of the spot. The present tomb, a Saracenic building, subsequent certainly to the Crusading times, is neither rich nor imposing, but no sumptuous mausoleum is needed to keep in memory the grave of Rachel — beautiful, beloved, untimely taken away. The Jews, who never accept a Christian or Moslem tradition, still pay visits of sympathy to this spot, which, as in the case of many other Old Testament worthies, the Moslem rulers open to Jew and Christian alike. It is mentioned by Jerome and in the Crusading chronicles, and was visited by Maundrell two hundred years ago. We may well recall how the prophet represents Rachel sitting weeping for her children as the long train of captive exiles passed from the south on their way to Babylon, and note how the tomb is close to the roadside ; and then as we see Bethlehem not a mile distant we understand how aptly the Evangelist transfers the figure to the Massacre of the Innocents by Herod. Crossing the shallow valley from Rachel's Tomb we rapidly wind up towards Bethlehem. There are various soil-covered heaps, the remains of ancient villages, here and there, and the modern guide will readily point out Ramah ; but -for this identification there is no good warranty, and the name Ramah, or some equivalent, is common all over the country applied to any ruin on a hill. A steep ascent leads up to Beit-Lahm, " the house of flesh," a phonetic accommodation of the ancient name Bethlehem, "the house of bread." The hillsides are irregularly scarped with terraces sweeping round the eastern shoulder, on which are many gnarled and silver-grey olive-trees, while many a fig-tree occupies any spare corner, and vines are trained over the irreofular walls of the terraces. Below them is a fine velvet turf, on which tethered oroats are feeding. All bespeaks a care and cultivation uncommon in Palestine, for the inhabitants of the little town above are Christians, and till the soil with perseverance and patience unknown to their Moslem neighbours. The loosened earth under the olive-trees is carpeted in spring with brilliantly coloured annuals and bulbs, bewildering in their variety and dazzling in their brightness. Most conspicuous is the gorgeous scarlet anemone, pimpernels yellow and blue, hyacinths, and especially a lovely pink campion. The town itself, no longer walled, is still confined within its ancient limits. There are no suburbs, and in fact, planted on the crest of a narrow spur that projects eastward from the central ridge and then abruptly breaks off, it has no room to expand. The white chalky ridge crowned with the long narrow street, with various alleys on either side of it, presents us with one of the few remaining specimens of an old Jewish city, for, excepting in the disap- pearance of the wall, it is probably unchanged in architecture and arrangement from what it was in the days of David. We can ascend to the roof of one of the houses in the main street, for the owner will give the Western traveller a hearty welcome, and here we can take in at a glance the chief features of the landscape. Looking eastward, the great pile of buildings, without any definite architectural features outside, is the famous shrine of the Church of the Nativity, and the 124 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. three convents — Latin, Greek, and Armenian — which surround it. The view is girt with Bible scenes. We see beyond the convents the bare wilderness of Judah creeping up almost to the very foot of the ridge. But a belt of rich green intervenes, the cornfields of Bethlehem. Here, probably, Ruth gleaned in the fields of her husband's kinsman. A little knoll of olive- trees surrounding a group of ruins marks the traditional site of the angels' appearance to the shepherds, Migdol Eder, " the tower of the flock." But the place where the first "Gloria in excelsis " was sung is probably farther east, where the bare hills of the wilderness begin, and a large tract is claimed by the Bethlehemites as a common pasturage. Here the sheep would be too far off to be led into the town at night ; and exposed to the attacks of the wild beasts from the eastern ravines, where the wolf and the jackal still prowl, and where of old the yet more formidable lion and bear had their covert, they needed the shepherds' watchful care ll';\V OF THI-: SHKPHl':i/? aXijOeia^ jmapTv^) being the legend. The mode in which the hermits were supplied with water was very ingenious. From the top of the mountain above and from the slopes below the crest, small carefully cemented channels are constructed in the face of the cliff, which collected and conveyed supplies of rain water to cisterns constructed inside the cells. The whole construction of this city of ascetic habitations, and especially the style and subjects of the frescoes, point to a period which is isolated from either the Roman, Crusading, or modern history of the land. When we observe the type of the frescoes, and the prominence given to the great fathers in the Arian controversy, all contemporaries at the beginning of the fourth century, and all owing their favour to the part they took in that controversy, may we not ascribe the date of these excavations to the period when that fierce struggle was at its height, and probably, too, to the hands of those who fled for safety and seclusion from the Arian persecution to these solitudes ? It is remarkable, also, that we could not find any portraiture of St. Jerome among the frescoes. This leads to the conjecture that they were executed before his canonization. At least it is strange that one whose name and fame is so indissolubly interwoven with every part of this district should have been forgotten by orthodox Christian devotees. They were probably closely connected with the innumerable societies of ascetics on the banks of the Nile, which may explain why, whilst they are still resorted to with reverence by devotees from Egypt and Abyssinia, they- are in no way reverenced or regarded by the members of the Greek Church, THE WADY KELT. 179 which could scarcely have been the case had they been traditionally connected with the monasteries of the Jordan plain. But let us now pass round the shoulder of Mount Ouarantania to the entrance of the Wady Harith, down which Abraham and Lot descended to the fair plain of the Jordan, and in the gorges of which Joshua placed his ambuscade for his assault of Ai. Here, facing south, we find even more anchorite dwellings than on the eastward bluff, and provided with water by a like system, though here drawn directly from the aqueduct which collected and economized the supply of the upper part of the valley. Passing about a mile farther south we reach the opening of the Wady Kelt, by the edge of which, on the south, runs the road from Jerusalem, and which was the tribal boundary between Judah and Benjamin. No language can ade- quately describe the rugged wildness of this glen. It is the only one west of Jordan which in its depth and seclusion and its perennial verdure rivals the gorges of the Arnon and Callirrhoe on the opposite side Jordan. In many parts it is simply a fissure with a perennial stream at the bottom, to which the sun can never penetrate save for a few minutes, and which is shaded by a thick row of luxuriant oleanders. Its sides are unscalable save by the ibex and the coney, which are both found here, secure from the attacks of the hunter. This dell is their northernmost limit in Palestine. Yet this glen, like the face of Quarantania, was seized on and occupied by the anchorites. The Deir Wady Kelt, as it is now called, was one of the seven monasteries of the Jericho circle dedicated to St. John of Choseboth, and it has evidently been inhabited down to a much later period than the caves we have been describing. The old Greek frescoes have frequently been covered over with fresh paintings having Arabic writing. There is still an inscription in Greek and Arabic, or Coptic, over the doorway, but it gives no date, merely stating that the monastery was restored by one Abraham and his brothers, of the Christian village of Jufna. We may at least infer that it has been inhabited by monks since the Saracenic conquest. Wilder still, if possible, than the situation of the monastery of Wady Kelt is that of Deir-el-Mukellik, in a ravine a little farther south, not far from the road to Nebi Musa, the great point of Moslem pilgrimages just south of the road from Jerusalem. Its remains are insignificant, but there are many rock-hewn cells, and a visit to it gives a yet clearer conception of the vast amount of zeal, devotion, and energy that once peopled with a multitude of self-sacrificing devotees this now desolate wilderness. But the remains in the Wady Kelt are not confined to monastery and hermits' cells alone. On the extreme edge of the hills to the north are the remains of a Crusading fortress, and all down the ravine on both sides are noble aqueducts, in some parts remaining, at three different levels, and sometimes spanning the valley. One of the aqueducts on the north side was for the purpose of supplying the anchorites and monastery, and leads to an immense vaulted cistern in three compartments. The other aqueducts, far more ancient, were those by which Herod supplied his newly built Jericho. The Wady Kelt is popularly supposed to be the brook Cherith (see page 169), where Elijah was fed by ravens, and many ingenious arguments have been adduced in support of the theory. One is that the name 'Oreb, or raven, still clings to i8o PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. one of the overhanging peaks. But " The Raven's Crag" is a name naturally suggested for any cliff where the raven has taken up its permanent quarters. This gorge is the home of the raven as Quarantania is of the griffon vulture. But the raven is universally spread over the whole country wherever there are cliffs or ravines, and ravens' crags are not peculiar to the Kelt. However admirably suited for a hiding-place, it is difficult to see how Elijah should have fled to a place so out of the natural order of the narrative. It was a place opposite Jordan, and the other claimant, the Wady Yabis, on the other side, facing Bethshean, and in Elijah's native district, seems a more probable locality. But one other scriptural incident is undoubtedly connected with the Kelt. It is the valley of Achor in which Achan was stoned — not, of course, in the gorge or upper ravine, but on the open plain, where the brook runs south of Er Riha, past Jiljulieh, to the Jordan (see page 177). It would be in view of the Israelitish camp, and the valley is full of pebbles and boulders of every size, which would account for its being chosen as the place of execution, since there is hardly a stone to be found in the surrounding plain beyond the limits of this torrent bed. Though the road by the south brink of the Kelt is by no means the most picturesque or interesting of the passes from the upper country to the Jordan Valley, yet it has been for over two thousand years almost the only route commonly used to reach the plains. It is only a short day's ride, but the descent is most rapid and continuous. It is but thirteen miles in a straight line to Jericho, yet the fall is three thousand six hundred and twenty feet, and four hundred feet more to the Dead Sea. The road is said to be still as dangerous as when it supplied our Lord with the scene for the parable of the Good Samaritan, and no doubt the wild ravines and gorges, labyrinthic in their plans and honeycombed with caverns, afford cover for freebooters which could nowhere be surpassed. But though to a Bedouin the temptation to pillage is generally irresistible, he is amenable to the laws for the regulation of robbery to which he has been an assenting party. Thus the traveller who has engaged a guard (and it need be only a nominal one, so long as the regulation fee has been paid) from the recognised authority — which is not the Turkish Govern- ment, but the Sheikh of Abou Dis, near Bethany, the representative of the Ghwarneh tribe — may roam in perfect safety so long as he abides within the limits of his jurisdiction, and no one will molest him. But should he, e.g., incautiously cross the wady, which happens to be a frontier line, and be suddenly pounced upon and sent back in the costume of his birth, he has only himself to blame for his loss. The writer, when once he had placed himself under the protection of the tribes, and was spending several weeks in the Jordan Valley, was in the habit of frequently riding alone to and from Jerusalem, but, being known by sight or report to the robbers, though often reconnoitred, was never once molested, either by night or day. Recently the Turkish Government has undertaken the safe conduct of all travellers on this road, a proceeding not unnaturally resented by the Bedouin, as being an infringement of local self-government on the part of MUKMAS, TIIK ANCILCNT MICHMASH, IN THE WADY SUVVEINIT. l82 PICTURESQUE PAEESTINE. a centralizing authority. Any traveller who wishes to explore or to ramble at his leisure will do well to make his own terms in a friendly way with the resident tribes. We have already rambled over the Jordan plain. We shall now, turning straight from the foot of the pass of the Kelt, proceed an hour's ride northwards to Ain Duk, the great spring which divides with the Prophet's Fountain the honour of giving life and fertility to the great oasis. We cast a passing glance at Abou-el-'Aleik, two ruined forts which once held the entrance of the pass, the Thrax and Taurus, which were destroyed by Pompey, and below them a small Saracenic ruin (Kakon), marking, perhaps, the site of the Castle of Cyprus, built by Herod to command Jericho, with the rocks steeply scarped in front of it, and we follow up by the side of ruined aqueducts past the mouth of Wady Harith and the cell-pierced front of Ouarantania, and past the extensive works generally looked upon as ruined Crusading sugar- mills, till we reach the mighty fountain of Ain Duk. The plenteous supply is evidently due to its situation at the foot of Quarantania to the north-east, where various wadys concentrate, and the underground drainage provides a perennial and inexhaustible supply. Two copious springs and several smaller ones burst close together from the southern part of the Wady Nuweimeh. The largest spring is overhung by the boughs of a dom-tree, the largest existing tree on the plain. Only its overflow is allowed to go down the natural channel ; the bulk of the supply is interrupted by the ancient aqueduct up the course of which we have been riding, and with the velocity of a mill-race is carried close above Ain-es-Sultan, watering the fields and plots on its way by little sluices, and still turning the wheel of a disused mill. Though no doubt mills were used for the manufacture of sugar, most of the so-called sugar-works are simply old corn-mills, erected by a people who looked upon water-power as more economical than the ceaseless toil of wives and slave-girls at the hand-mill. Not only is this fountain important as the greatest source of the fertility of the Jordan plain, it is also at the spot where three roads — and these the principal lines of communication from the centre of the country — converge ; yet, unlike its rival, the Prophet's Fountain, it has barely a history and scarcely a ruin. The only historical incident connected with its name is that at the small fort which guarded it Simon Maccabseus and his two sons were treacherously murdered by his son-in-law Ptolemy. The Book of the Maccabees calls it " a little hold," and not more than such do the remains indicate. Two rock-hewn tombs above may not improbably be those of the Maccabaean family, buried where Hyrcanus endeavoured to avenge their murder. Behind the ravines which open on the plain of Jordan at this point, and which run almost concentrically towards Jericho, lies that hill-country which was the very centre and heart of Israel, the hill-country of little Benjamin. No area in the whole land is more thickly studded with historical reminiscences. Its bare hills and rounded hollows, its deep glens and rugged passes, were the theatre of events which occupy the Bible narrative from Abraham to the Captivity. Here camped Abraham and Lot;, here slept and dreamt Jacob ; here were the first battles of the conqueror Joshua ; here the struggles and the dark tragedies of the period of the Judges, the home of the great prophet Samuel, and the birthplace of the first king, HILL-COUNTRY OF LITTLE BENJAMIN. 183 the Benjamite Saul. Here was the ceaseless frontier warfare of Israel and Judah, and here was planted the great station and centre of the apostacy of the northern kingdom, the golden calf of Bethel. The passes of Benjamin naturally gave that little tribe a disproportionate influence in the land. It pos- sessed strong fortresses for de- fence, conspicuous high places for national worship, and ravines by which it could command the Jordan Valley and the east on the one side, and the rich plains of Philistia on the other. Thus it earned its name of " little Benjamin, their ruler." Within its little territory are crowded the names of Bethel, Ai, Geba, Ramah, Mizpeh, Gibeon, Nob, Michmash, and many others, the scenes of historic events. Of these passes that of Michmash, here represented, is a typical example, and it is the theatre of one of the most romantic episodes in the history of Israel. Michmash, the modern JEBA, THE ANCIENT GEBA OF BENJAMIN. The shrine of Jebi is called Neby Yakub (Prophet Jacob). PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. Mukmas, stands on the north side of a ravine, the Wady Suweinit, or Valley of the Thorn- tree, which takes its rise west of Ai, and soon becomes a narrow gorge with vertical sides eight hundred feet deep — a fissure across the country only detected when arrived on its actual brink. It is the true head of the Wady Kelt. There can be no doubt as to the identity of the present Jeba and Mukmas with the position of the respective garrisons of the Philistines and Israelites. We read there was a sharp rock on the one side and a sharp rock on the other side ; the name of the one was Bozez, i.e. "shining," and the other Seneh, " the acacia" (i Sam, xiv, 4). Josephus enters into more minute detail. Michmash, he says, was a precipice with three tops, ending in a long sharp tongue and protected by surrounding cliffs. Exactly such a natural fortress exists ending in a narrow tongue to the east, with cliffs below and an open valley behind it, and a saddle towards the west on which the village stands. Facing it on the south is an equally precipitous cliff, apparently as inaccessible from the ravine as the other, and still bearing the name of Seneh, from the acacia-trees which here and there are found in the nooks. Now the valley runs due east, and the southern cliff is consequently always in shade. As we have noted in going from Jerusalem to Jericho, there is a marked contrast in colour always between the slopes that face the north and the south, and here it is especially striking. The sun-dried chalk face of the northern side gleams brightly in the sunlight from the south, and has well earned its name of Bozez, or the " shining." To climb down from Geba must have been difficult enough, but the ascent on the other side, which Jonathan and his armour-bearer achieved " upon their hands and feet," would try an experienced mountaineer, and their apparition up such a cliff may explain the panic of the Philistines, as they would be taken for the advance guard of a numerous storming party. Across the narrow chasm the adventure could be easily watched, and the noise in the alarmed camp be heard. Saul's garrison would cross the valley higher up with ease by the path to the village behind, and thence naturally the pursuit was towards Bethel and down the Valley of Ajalon towards Ain Duk, already the scene of the first great victory of Joshua. It is evident from the history compared with the topography that the Philistines had not secured any posts on the south of the ravine, but had spread their plundering parties east to Zeboim (Duk), west to Beth-horon, and north towards Ophrah. On their panic the northern Israelites who had hid themselves in Ephraim, and also the numerous deserters in their camp, turned against them and pursued them down to the central valley. With the identification of Michmash that of Geba is necessarily secured. There 'are few events of a circumstantial history three thousand years old more minutely identified in their every detail than this surprise of the garrison of Michmash. We see where Saul lay at bay. On the south side of the chasm stands Geba of Benjamin, on a rocky knoll, with cisterns beneath and corn-land to the eastward, still known as Jeba. There has been much confusion between this Geba and Gibeah of Saul, usually identified with the modern Taleil-el- Ful ; but the suggestion of Lieut. Conder that Gibeah of Saul applied to a district as well as a place seems to solve the difficulty. Once again in Old Testament history, after the GEBA. period of Saul, Geba is mentioned. When Isaiah describes the advance of Sennacherib upon Jerusalem, we read, " At Michmash he hath laid up his carriages : they have gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba" (ch. x. 28), i.e. "the carriages," or heavy baggage, could not be got across the ravine between Michmash and Geba, they are left behind, and the lightly equipped portion of the army bivouac — " take up their lodging" — at Geba, on the opposite side, having had a toilsome climb across. When we stand on the edge of the cliff of Geba, and remember how this ravine was the natural frontier-line between the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, we can well understand the care which King Asa took to dismantle Ramah, and to employ all the resources of his kingdom in the building and fortification of Geba. To what it has fallen to-day the illustration tells us (see page 183). There is indeed an old dilapidated castle, the fragment of a solid square tower, and a few 25 i86 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. foundations. The hovels of the squalid village are formed of loose stones from old build- ings and turf But the view towards the east is wide and impressive. We are surrounded by the hills of Benjamin, each in shape and in the crumbling mound on its top a repetition of the last. In the immediate foreground we see the little village of Deir Diwan, one of the few remaining inhabited places in the district on its plateau, and beyond this slopes down tier after tier of the mountain chain, seamed and scarred in every direction, till it dips into the Jordan Valley. The huge thistles which fill the foreground of the sketch, in front of the Moslem burying-ground, where a family are THE SUMMIT OF NEBY SAMWIL- A woman carrying a goat-skin filled with water up the hill. BETHEL. 187 mourning their lost one, are but a sample of the herbage which covers all this neglected land when the first spring has passed. " Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers." In fact, prickle, brier, quickthorn, and nettle are all combined in their formidable stems, whose only use is as fuel, and which are laboriously gathered by the women to heat their ovens. " As the crackling of thorns under a pot " is a simile which often recurs to the traveller as he watches his barley cake tossed on the quickly blazing thistles and then buried in their embers. And as the thorn has taken the place of the vine, so has the solitary stork on Jebas crumbling tower supplanted the watchful sentinel of Israel's army. But beneath that cliff the ravine is still pierced with caves, and one large cavern just under the fort is surely the very cave out which rushed the liers-in-wait of the Israelitish army, who fell with such fearful slaughter on the hapless Benjamites in that dark epoch when the tribe was all but annihilated (Judges xx.). From Geba and Michmash we turn four or five miles northward in search of a site yet more ancient and full of Patriarchal reflections. Bethel. But before reaching it we must find out Ai. We know it was to the east of Bethel, that there was a hill between them from which the plains of Jordan could be seen, and that it was the second city utterly destroyed by Joshua, We gather from the account of its capture by Joshua that there was a valley to the north of the town and low ground to the west, where an ambush could be set unseen from the city, while on the opposite side was a plain. The area, then, in which we must search is very limited. Colonel Wilson was, we believe, the first to point out the exact spot, in a knoll which bears the name of Et Tell, "the heap" (see page 185). The modern name is a remarkable incidental confirmation of sacred history. "Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap \tell'\ for ever, even a desolation unto this day." Now the place has no other name than " Et Tell," and it is to be noted that the word " tell " occurs only three or four times in the Hebrew Bible, while it is one of the most familiar words in Arabic, every place on a rising ground having this prefix. But nowhere else do we ever find it standing alone — the heap, the one made and cursed by the captains of Israel. We can follow all the military evolutions of Joshua. The ambush, following the ancient causeway, still to be traced, from Jordan to Bethel as far as Michmash, would ascend the valley west of Ai, and arrive within a quarter of a mile without coming in sight of it, and lie in wait unsuspected. The main body, keeping the road, would appear before the town on the open, east and south. From the knoll the figure of Joshua would be plainly visible to either party, with his spear stretched out towards the city. Lieut. Conder in his examination of the Tell has remarked, what had escaped former observers, that the debris which forms the mound is composed of masonry broken small, unlike other ruins — in fact, that it had been literally ground to powder. Hither Abraham had returned with Lot to the same " place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai, unto the place at the altar which he had made there at the first." This altar would naturally be on the hill, not in the plain below. From its top Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plains of Jordan. This is the most westerly spot i88 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. whence the plain can be seen. To the east there rises in the foreground the jagged range of hills above Jericho, in the distance the dark wall of Moab, and between them lies the Valley of the Jordan, its eastern side clearly visible. The view also south and west is wide and commanding- as far as the hills round Hebron. Here it was that "the Lord said unto I]) now om th( liwai ihiiK 1,1 UC Abraham, Lift eyes, and look where thou art n)ith\\ii(l uui southward, and (. isiw ud md westward : for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever " (Gen. xiii. 14, 15). We proceed a little to the west, and we still find ourselves bewildered among that labyrinth of wadys which forms the hill country of Benjamm. They run in all directions, east, west, north, and south, and to the cursory observer there is little to mark off one from another. Yon tower, however, stands out conspicuous, and from its summit surely a commanding view may be obtained. It seems, if not modern, at least well preserved. We soon see that it is a minaret ; it is, in fact, the minaret erected at the end of an old Crusading church, within which is the cenotaph which the Moslems reverence as the tomb of the prophet Samuel, the well-known Nebi Samwil, the Mount Joy of the Crusaders. But what was it in ancient times ? Here the learned doctors TALEIL-EL-FUL, FROM NEBY SAMWIL. tj.enerally regarded as the Gibeah ot Saul. GIBEON. 191 once an important fortress, Gibeon of Benjamin (see page 189). The country round the little basin in which it rises is seamed with watercourses apparently running in every direction, but all ultimately find their way to the plain of Sharon, for we are here altogether west of the Jordan watershed. The ancient city has shrunk to a collection of a few scattered hovels, but the landmarks of old history are still here. Under a cliff where a cave has been hollowed out bursts forth a copious spring, which feeds not only a deep reservoir on the spot, but also a large open reservoir of very ancient masonry beneath the village on the east. Few spots can be more minutely identified than this Pool of Gibeon, where Abner, with the adherents of Ishbosheth, Saul's son, met in the heart of Saul's own tribal district Joab and David's men, and the two bands sat down facing each other on opposite BEIT-'UR-EL-FOKA, ON THE SITE OF UPPER BETH-HORON. In the distance the sandy line of coast and the Mediterranean Sea. sides of the pool. When in the wager of battle, twelve against twelve, all the twenty-four fell, the plain was- called "the Field of the Strong Men " (2 Sam. ii.). The tradition still lingers in the name Wady-el-Askur, "the Valley of the Soldiers." We may recall, too, the second tragedy on this spot, in which Joab took the leading part, when, " by the great stone that was in Gibeon," he basely assassinated his rival Amasa ; and here, by a just retribution, he was slain on the horns of the altar by Solomon's sentence. By this tank, too, "the great waters," Johanan defeated the traitor Ishmael during the Captivity. But El Jib has more hallowed reminiscences than deeds of blood. Its Canaanite inhabitants, whose blood probably runs in the veins of the villagers of to-day, were the only Hivites spared by Joshua, lured by their wiles into a treaty with them ; and here, for more than fifty 192 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. years before the building of Solomon's Temple, stood the national altar of sacrifice, where King Solomon offered his one thousand burnt-offerings, and received in the visions of the night the promise of wealth, honour, and long life. Past glories, indeed, are these we feel, as we sit under one of the gnarled and contorted olive-trees which dot the slopes. Yet, bare VIEW FROM UPPER BETH-HORON, Looking westward, to the Mediterranean Sea, at sunset. and uninviting as the land of Benjamin is to-day, every knoll, every hillside, ribbed and scarred with old terraces, bears testimony to what once it was. What it may be again, when life and property are secure from tyranny and oppression, when the olive-trees are planted again, the cisterns cemented, and the water-courses repaired, the gorges of the Lebanon, teeming with population and produce, unmistakably proclaim. BEIT 'UR-ET-TAHTA, ON THE SITE OF LOWER BETH-HORON. A Bedouin tent in the foreground. A woman preparing food, to be eaten at sunset. THE MOUNTAINS OF JUDAH AND EPHRAIM, A MOUNTAIN ridge, rising to about two thousand five hundred feet above the ^ ^ Mediterranean, runs unbroken from the pass north of Bethel to the neighbourhood of Hebron, a distance of about thirty miles in a straight line. The shed is extremely narrow, and the deep and rugged valleys which intersect the region, running down eastwards to the Jordan Valley and westwards to the plains of Sharon and Philistia, have their heads in some cases overlapping. The most peculiar feature of the mountain rampart is, however, the extraordinarily steep and sudden descent which occurs on the west at about ten miles from the watershed ridge or backbone of the country. The slopes here fall suddenly, leaving a mountain wall, which forms a conspicuous feature when viewed from the lower hills. Thus in the neighbourhood of Beth-horon there is a descent of more than five hundred feet in about half a mile, while from the hills round Adullam the traveller looks up at apparently inaccessible mountains rising east of the famous Valley of Elah, In the early morning, while the bright sunlight bathes the plains, the mountain wall formed by these steep western slopes is seen in the distance blue in the shadow, and it is only after midday, as the sun creeps round towards the south, that the white domes in the clustering villages begin to shine out, and the intricate network of ravines and torrent-beds is distinguishable by its light and shade. The higher mountains consist of a hard crystalline limestone, generally dark grey in colour, but often stained with russet bands, and sometimes attaining to a dark purple hue, while thin streaks of soft white chalk are left by the action of immemorial rains on the 26 194 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. summits of the chain. The ridge is a steep anticlinal — a great arch of hard rocks curving down east and west to valley and plain. The lower hills on the west belong to a distinct formation, and are indeed remains of the great chalk sea which once overflowed the hard limestone mountains. Hence it arises that the division between the higher mountains and the lower hills of the Judsean chain is so distinct ; and the traveller looking down from the higher spurs sees the low hills gleaming with white chalk or dusky with long olive groves, forming an intermediate district between the grey mountains and the rich brown plains. In Scripture and in later Jewish writings the two regions receive distinct names, the low hills being called " Shephelah," and the higher range the " King's Mountain " in the Talmud. Three main passes lead from the maritime plain to the King's Mountain or Chain of Judaea : one from the north-west, one from the west, and a third from the south-west. This first of these is the famous Pass of Beth-horon, the scene of so many Jewish victories ; the second is the road by which the modern traveller approaches the Holy City, leading up from Ramleh and past the " Gate of the Valley," through Wady 'Aly, a gorge flanked by rugged mountains covered with mastic bushes and crowned by a belt of firs and other forest trees. The third pass leads through the broad corn vale of Elah and ascends to the neighbourhood of Halhul, half-way between Jerusalem and Hebron. At the time of the great struggle for national existence Judas Maccabaeus successfully resisted three Greek armies attempting to ascend by each of these three main approaches successively. The liberation of Judaea was the immediate result of the three victorious " Battles of the Passes " at Beth-horon, Emmaus, and Bethsura. The three great valleys thus noticed — the main drains of the mountain system — are fed by innumerable torrent-beds, which form an intricate network of deep and narrow trenches, increasing in size as they recede farther from the watershed and plunge deeper towards the plain. Long and narrow spurs run out between these ravines, and a traveller who attempts to ride north and south instead of following the direction of the country will find his day wasted in tedious climbing and break-neck scrambles, and may consider himself fortunate if he makes a mile of way in an hour. The western spurs of the King's Mountain present a far less bare and sun-scorched appearance than do the steep eastern spurs above the Jordan Valley. The mountains are full of springs of clear cool water gushing out between the slabs of shining limestone ; and although the valleys and ravines never run water, except perhaps for a few hours in winter when filled by a sudden spate or thunderstorm, still there is no lack of " fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills." In the Shephelah, on the other hand, the water sinks through the porous chalk and finds its way beneath the surface, springing up again in great blue pools at the eastern border of the maritime plain. The inhabitants obtain water from wells and cisterns in the Shephelah, but almost every village has its spring in the King's Mountain. The mountain spurs thus watered and exposed to the cool western sea-breeze, which in summer blows steadily throughout the day, are thickly covered with wild growth which has VALLEY OF AJALON. '95 much encroached on the ancient cultivation. The lentisk or mastic — akin to the pistachio and to the terebinth — forms thickets of low brushwood, dark green in colour, with a gummy leaf, which gives it in Arabic the name ' Alaka, or the "sticking" plant. One of the three VIEW FROM THE RUINS OF THE MEDIEVAL FORTRESS AT LATRON, Looking westward, towards the Mediterranean Sea ; the watch-towers on the road to Jaffa are plainly shown. species of Syrian oak also grows as a bush, and the hawthorn, the cornel, the arbutus, and the myrtle are found in the copse. Here and there a solitary oak of great size is seen hung with rags as votive offerings, and each of these trees has a well-known name. The Valley of Elah is still dotted with dark and heavy-looking terebinths, from which its ancient name was VALLEY OF AJALON, FROM THE WEST, Looking across the broad corn-fields to Mizpeh and the more distant mountains in the Valley of the Jordan. derived. The Forest of Hareth is still represented by the thickets round the modern village of Kharas. The neighbourhood of Kirjath Jearim, the "town of woods," is still remarkable for its tangled thickets ; and scattered pines along the higher ridges south of Halhul represent 196 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. the remains of the old pine forest, whence Arculphus describes Jerusalem as having been supplied with firewood in the seventh century of our era. A remarkable feature of this mountain region is the manner in which the ancient inhabitants seized on the most conspicuous peaks and knolls as safe sites for their villages. As the eye glances along the rugged spurs the towers of the hamlets are seen standing up against the sky-line, while the flat roofs of the little cabins composing the village are crowded round the central house of two stories, which is occupied by the sheikh, and has the appearance of a keep or fortress, in the middle of the village climbing up the steep slopes of the knoll. Thus, in approaching Jerusalem, Soba on its high rocky ridge is visible from a great distance (see page 198), and Kastal dominates the broad Valley of Kolonia. Gibeon, Ramah, and Geba, north of the Holy City, stand in the same way on isolated knolls, and derive their names from the character of their sites ; and, speaking generally, the villages, with hardly an exception, are built in situations of great natural strength, and are plainly visible from any of the more commanding points of view in the district, while the low-lying hamlets and scattered homesteads of our own country have no counterpart among the mountains of the Holy Land. Unlike the rich corn-lands of Philistia and the pastures of Sharon, the King's Mountain is not a region possessed of a naturally fertile soil. The red earth scarcely covers the hard rock on the slopes, and only in the bottoms of the ravines and in the dells — called kheldl by the natives — is it possible to plough and sow corn. Patient labour and knowledge of the country overcame, however, these difficulties in ancient times, and even at the present day the cultivation is only curtailed by the scantiness of the population. The bright apple green of the vines may be seen trailing over the long ridges of stone, and yokes of diminutive oxen are found dragging the light hand-plough between the boles of the olive-trees which cover the hillsides round the villages. The mountain region near Hebron and Jerusalem is specially fitted for the growth of the grape. A fierce summer sun, frosty nights in winter, a fat though scanty soil, hard rock reflecting the heat on to the ripening fruit, and in autumn damp mists to swell the juices of the vine — these are all requisites for vine-culture, and all occur in the Judsean mountains. Hence, in the vineyards of Bethlehem, Beit Jala, and Hebron the grapes attain enormous size, and might be made into excellent wine ; while the innumerable rock-cut presses which are found near the ancient ruins or hidden among the thick copses, near ancient towers rudely built of large unshapen blocks, attest the former widespread cultivation of the vine throughout the whole district. The King's Mountain is a region full of famous places. Bethel, Michmash, Gibeon, Beth-horon, Emmaus, Bethlehem, Anathoth, and Mizpeh are names familiar to the English reader as household words ; and there is no other part of Palestine which has witnessed so many important events of biblical history, or which is so thickly crowded with famous ancient sites. Not least interesting among these sites are the two little villages now called Beit VALLEY OF AJALON. 197 'Ur-el-F6ka (the Upper Beth-horon) and Beit 'Ur-et-Tahta (the Lower Beth-horon), situated less than a mile apart, and the one some five hundred feet above the other (see pages 192 and 193). Upper Beth-horon, a ruinous-looking hamlet with a great ruined reservoir, stands at the extremity of a narrow space of hard grey limestone, and is surrounded by a straggling olive grove. The ancient road, descending the hill by rock-cut steps through a narrow cutting, appears to be the work of the Romans, and leads from the plain near Lydda to the watershed east of Gibeon, being skilfully engineered along the crest of the long spur leading by the Beth-horon Pass. The view from the village extends on the south-west across the open Vale of Ajalon to Gezer and the Philistine plain, while on the north the rugged range of Mount Ephraim is seen crowned with fortress villages. Beth-horon (" the House of Caverns ") first appears in history as the site of the great battle when Joshua defeated the league of Hivite chiefs gathered to the assistance of the Gibeonites, and as the scene of the miracle when the " Sun stood still and the Moon stayed," until Israel was avenged of its enemies. The site has never been lost. It was known to the early fathers of the Church and to the Crusading pilgrims as well as it is to ourselves, and the village of Beth-horon is one of the few undisputed identifications in Palestine topography. Solomon fortified it as a frontier town ; Shishak enumerates it in the list of the cities which he wrested from Rehoboam ; Judas Maccabaeus twice saved the city and the Temple by victories over the Greek forces in the neighbourhood of this steep ascent. In the year 168 b.c. the patriotic son of Mattathias gathered a handful of zealous outlaws on the summit of the stony ridge and fell suddenly on the army of Seron, the Greek general, who was marching from Lydda on Jerusalem, and the victory which followed was the first blow struck for freedom by the national party. In the year 162 B.C. another Greek army attempted to advance by this route, supported by the sally of the garrison under Nicanor from Jerusalem, but the battle of Adasa was followed by a pursuit which drove the foreigners down the same steep slope which had witnessed the flight of the Amorites before Joshua, and that of the Philistines from Michmash before Saul and Jonathan. The little ruin called Il'asa, close to the Lower Beth-horon, also probably represents the site of Eleasa, where Judas arrayed his army before the fatal battle of Berzetho, in which he lost his life. The Vale of Ajalon, named from the "village of deer" (Ajalon), now called Yalo, which stands on a low hill to the south, is a broad corn valley below the mountains forming the mouth of the long narrow ravine which bounds the ridge of Beth-horon on the south, and which is now called Wady Suleiman (see page 195). Viewed from the neighbourhood of the village of Latron, three famous sites are seen grouped on the low hills south-east of this corn valley, namely, Ajalon itself; 'Amwas, the Emmausof the Book of Maccabees; and Beit Nuba, where King Richard fixed his camp when contemplating an advance on the Holy City, and which the early pilgrims erroneously supposed to represent the site of Nob, the city of the priests. 198 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. About a mile north of Latron the village of 'Amwas clings to the side of a bare chalky hill. Its name preserves that of Emmaus, afterward called Nicopolis, a city famous in the annals of the Hasmoneans as the scene of the second great victory won by Judas Maccabseus in the year 166 B.C. The name Em- maus is explained by Josephus to mean a " heal- ing bath," and is thus pro- bably the Aramaic form of the old Hebrew Hammath, signifying a " hot " bath. There were three places in Palestine named Em- maus. One, originally called Hammath, was built over the thermal springs immediately south of Tiberias. The second, Emmaus Nicopolis, now under consideration, is said in the Talmud to have possessed springs often visited by sick persons, as are the thermal springs near Tiberias at the present day. SOBA, FROM THE JERUSALEM ROAD. T\v0 native ladies, mounted on asses and enveloped in large white cotton veils, called izzars, are ascending the hill. KOLONIA. 20I splendid church was built in the flat dell north-east of the village, and a convent was founded not far off beside a stream of clear water running over the rocky bed of a ravine. The church is still standing, and is one of the most perfect buildings of its period left in the Holy Land. The dim shadows of the frescoes which once adorned its walls are still traceable, though the colours and outlines are obliterated by age. The west window is remarkable for the intricacy of its mouldings, and the vaults below contain a fresh spring reached by steps, and to which no doubt some tradition now lost was formerly attached. The names of the early pilgrims are still visible scratched on the stucco of the internal walls. Kuryet-el-'Anab, as before noticed, IS one of the claimants for the name Emmaus, though its only pretension is its distance from Jerusalem; but perhaps the most satisfactory suggestion which has been made, as to the Hebrew name of this village, is that it is the ancient Kirjath of Benjamin. Leaving the open valley with its green vineyards, above which the white houses of the village rise west of the church and its solitary palm, the road to Jerusalem ascends by a zigzag to another long ridge, from which the picturesque village of Soba becomes visible on the right, separated from the road by an extremely deep and almost impassable gorge. Soba is one of the most picturesquely situated places in Palestine. The village crowns a conical knoll rising from a dark ridge clothed in thick copse of mastic and oak, and the topmost tower forms a conspicuous landmark from all sides. The modern name is exactly descriptive of the site, the word " sobah " indicating one of the conical heaps of grain which may be seen in the centre of a Syrian threshing-floor in August. The site is so conspicuous that almost every writer has offered his conjecture as to the identity of the place with some ancient town, and Soba has been supposed at various periods to represent Kirjath Jearim, Zuph, Ramathaim Zophim, and even Modin, There can be no doubt that Soba is an ancient place. Rock-cut tombs of the most ancient form used by the Jews are to be found among the vineyards south of the village, and rock-cut wine-presses exist near them.. In the twelfth century the place was called Belmont by the Franks, and the traces of a Crusading fortress are still visible on the hill. Its claim to represent Modin is more ancient than that of Latron, although equally unsatisfactory. - In the fourteenth century the Jewish pilgrims were quite at a loss to decide between the rival sites, and Isaac Chelo even suggests that Ramleh may have been Modin ; but in the fourth century the true site of the home of the Maccabees, the present village of El Meclyeh, seems still to have been recognised on the low hills east of Lydda. Following the ridge north of Soba, the traveller arrives at the descent which leads across the Wady Beit Hanina, and sees before him the bleak grey range capped with white chalk which hides the Holy City from view. Beneath him is the small village of Kolonia, with its white shrine perched on the slope above the gardens of orange and pomegranate which surround a little hostelry beside a bridge of several arches spanning the shingly bed of the torrent (see page 202). The descent to Kolonia is more than a thousand feet, and an equally steep ascent leads up on the east to the barren plateau of the watershed on which Jerusalem stands. As the eye travels round southward, following the course of the great valley, 27 202 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. another long and stony spur becomes visible, while on a shelf of rock between this ridge and the torrent bed the village of 'Ain Karim is picturesquely perched (see page 205). The stern and rugged beauty of this view is especially striking in early morning, when the walls of rock and the rugged slopes on the east are still dark in the shadow ; and in winter the KOLONIA, AND WADY BEIT HANINA. A favourite place of resort of the people of Jerusalem ; it is famous for its well-kept vineyards and vegetable gardens. long lines of vapour rising from the valley leave the white convent wall floating as it were in the air, backed by dark cypresses and the grey rocks stained with rusty bands. The valley itself is, however, a striking contrast to the barren hills which enclose it. The springs which ooze out of the mountain sides drip over the precipices and fertilise the good soil WADY BEIT HAN IN A. 203 beneath. The open ground is covered with olive yards and vineyards rising in terraces on either side of the white torrent bed, while near Kolonia is a shady garden, the resort of the Jerusalem citizens in the summer. Wady Beit Hanina, as this valley is generallv called — although like most of the ravines in Palestine it takes in succession the name of each village it passes — is one of the main drains of the country. It has its head not far from Gibeon, north of Jerusalem, and thence runs south-west, deepening rapidly as it approaches Kolonia, where it becomes wider until "i , passing 'Ain Karim. Trending west it runs south of Soba and becomes a formidable gorge, taking the name of Wady Ism'ain from a traditionary chieftain of the locality. The course after passing 'Ain Karim is very tortuous, and the steep hills on either side are thickly clothed with copse. Hermits' caves occur in the cliffs, and the ruin of 'Armah, probably representing Kirjath Jearim, stands among the thickets on the southern brink. As MOSQUE OF THE FOUNTAIN, 'AIN kXrIM. Peasant-women washing clothes by beating them on blocks thc SpurS break doWU Suddenly Oil the WCSt, the gOrge 204 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. opens into a broad corn vale between rounded chalky hills, and here lie the ruins of Bethshemesh amid its olives, and on the north Sur'ah, the ancient Zoreah, with the white shrine of Neby Samat, the traditionary representative of Samson. This part of the valley is the biblical Vale of Sorek, up which the lowing kine brought the ark in the straight way through the corn-fields from the sandy downs of Ekron. The present ecclesiastical tradition which identifies Wady Beit Hantna with the ancient Valley of Elah is traceable only as far back as the fourteenth century, and is entirely devoid of foundation. The true Valley of Elah is identified with the present Wady-es-Sunt, by the recovery of Socoh on its southern border, and is the next main drain of the country south of the Wady Beit Hanina. It has its head near Hebron, and runs northward and westward past Keilah, Hareth, Adullam, and Socoh, debouching into the Philistine plains at Tell-es- Safy, the probable site of Gath. The site of David's victory over Goliath, now shown north-west of Jerusalem, was more correctly fixed in the sixth century by the pilgrim Theodorus between Jerusalem and Eleutheropolis, at a place which he calls Mount Buzana. The real Valley of Elah (now Wady-es-Sunt) was the theatre of many of David's adventures, and the hold of Adullam, the copses of Hareth, Keilah on its steep hill, with the white cliff of Gath guarding the entrance to the fruitful corn vale dotted with dark terebinths, were all in turn the refuges which he sought when fleeing from the face of Saul. The village of Kolonia, which has been mentioned above, is also a place celebrated in Jewish history, although its proximity to the capital forbids us to accept the proposed identification of the place with the New Testament Emmaus. " There was a place," says the Mishna, " below Jerusalem called Mozah : thither the people went down and gathered drooping willow branches, and they came and erected them at the side of the altar with their tops bending over the altar." The Jewish commentators translate the Hebrew name by the Latin Colonia ; and as the willows may still be found near the stream of Kolonia, while the ruin of Beit Mizzeh near the village seems to preserve the name of Mozah, there seems good reason to suppose that the modern fashion of making a summer day's excursion from the capital to the little restaurant in Wady Beit Hanina is a survival of the old Hebrew custom of coming down to Kolonia for the willow branches used during the Feast of the Tabernacles, on the 13th of Tizri, and the 21st of the same month, or in the middle of September. It was probably at Mozah also that the daughters of Jerusalem danced in the vineyards on the same festal occasion, when they sang an invitation to the youthful spectators, the words of which have come down to us at the present day : " Behold, O young man, whom wilt thou choose : look not for beauty, but for birth ; favour is deceitful, beauty is vain, but she that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised." 'Ain Karim, the ancient Carem of Judah, is a site now consecrated by numerous eccle- siastical traditions. It contains a Latin monastery founded by the Marquis de Nointel, the ambassador of Louis XIV. of France, and a church dedicated to St. John the Baptist (see page 209), with a white dome, which forms a conspicuous object in the distance, rising beside 206 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. the black cypresses of the convent garden. The population of the village is now about six hundred souls, including one hundred Latin Christians. There are also a few nuns of the order of the Sisters of Zion, who assist the Franciscan monks by the education of the native girls (see page 205). As early as the twelfth century the site of 'Ain Karim was fixed by tradition as that of the summer residence of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, and was regarded as the place of St. John's birth and the "city of Judah" where the Salutation occurred. It was called Locus Silvestris and Domus Zacharise, and in the fifteenth century John Poloner found there a church in two stories — probably that is with a vault, the upper church having been destroyed by the Saracens. He mentions a cleft in the rock where the ground opened to conceal the infant Baptist during the persecution of Herod at the time of the Bethlehem massacre, and a fountain beside the road where the Virgin rested on the occasion of her visit to Elisabeth. The former tradition now attaches to a chapel built in i860, and supposed to mark the site of the house of Zacharias (see page 207). The spring near the village is still called the " Fountain of our Lady Mary." These traditions are not traceable further back than Crusading times. They belong to that extraordinary system of minute localisation of sacred spots which spread over Palestine under the Latin kings. The number of sacred places in Jerusalem was increased three or four fold after the Crusading conquest, churches and chapels were built all over the land, and each claimed to enclose some sacred spot or to contain some precious relic. The Crusaders were ignorant in many cases of the ancient traditions of the Church preserved in the itineraries and pilgrim journals of the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries ; and the ecclesiastical authorities who determined the sacred sites shown to the devout warriors of the twelfth century can have bestowed but little care on the study of scriptural topography. With the exception of the most important sacred sites, it is rare to find the Crusaders' church standing anywhere near the Byzantine chapel which claimed to occupy the same sacred site. The Byzantine traditions seem sometimes to have been derived from Jewish sources, and are in such cases very valuable ; but the Crusading traditions were more remarkable for their startling originality than for their reliability. But the process of multiplication of sacred sites did not cease in the twelfth century; their numbers grew steadily, and many new ones were added in the fifteenth and even later. Within the last ten years new discoveries in sacred topography have been made in Nazareth and at other places, and every chapel in the country pretends to possess some unique claim to veneration. At 'Ain Karim the twelfth-century traditions were supplemented by others in the fourteenth century, and the rock-cut cell of St. John, now called El Habs, is a site apparently not dating earlier than the fifteenth century. The fertile valley of Beit Hantna, between 'Ain Karim and the ridge of Soba, is now known as the " Wilderness of St. John," and supposed to be the desert to which the Baptist retired ; which modern scholars, however, identify with the dreary waste west of the Dead Sea. PHILIFS FOUNTAIN. 207 As we approach the capital the number of traditional sites increases, and the scenes of many scriptural events are grouped at convenient distances round the Holy City. The traveller who crosses the bare ridge behind 'A in Karim by the curious cairns which form such conspicuous fea- tures on the sky-line from the neighbour- hood of Jerusalem, finds his way down to the flat stony valley called Wady-el- Werd, the " Vale of Roses," and here on the south side of the valley we find a fifteenth-century traditional site in the fountain called by the natives 'Ain Haniyeh, but by the Christians Philip's Fountain (see page 210). The spring breaks out from beneath a kind of masonry apse flanked by Corinthian pilasters, and probably marking the site of an early chapel. A small niche exists in the apse, and remains of masonry are scattered round in the valley bed. It is difficult to understand how the tradition became attached to this site, or how the chariot of the Ethiopian servant of Queen Candace can have been sup- posed to have escaped entire destruction in the rugged and pathless ravine where the spring breaks out. It is, however, certain that the tradition was transferred at a late period from another site. In the fifteenth century it is first mentioned, WELL OF ZACHARIAS AND ELISABETH, 'AIN KARIM. Near the supposed site of their summer dwelling, where the Virgin is said to have visited them. 208 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE, apparently in its present position, by John Poloner. In the fourteenth century Marino Sanuto identifies Philip's Fountain with En Hakkore, or the Fountain of the Jaw Bone, famous in the history of Samson, and which was at that period supposed to have been near Beit Jibrin, at the edge of the Philistine plain. In earlier times the fountain where Philip baptized the eunuch was shown opposite the ruin of Bethsura, on the road from Jerusalem to Hebron. The Bordeaux pilgrim mentions a chapel on this spot, the ruins of which still remain close to the fine spring called 'Ain Dhirweh, under a low cliff above which the village of Halhul stands on the hill-top. Wady-el- Werd obtains its name from the cultivation of roses in the valley. The rose is rarely seen in Palestine, but appears to thrive well in this place, and is used for the preparation of the attar of roses. According to the Babylonian Talmud a single rose garden existed in Jerusalem, dating back to the time of " the first prophets," that is to say, to the period preceding the Captivity. The rose will not, however, grow wild in so hot a climate as that of southern Palestine, although the dog-rose is found on Lebanon and on the heights of Hermon. The best authorities are agreed that the " Rose of Sharon " mentioned in the Song of Songs is the white narcissus which grows in such profusion in the maritime plain. The Targums translate the original Hebrew in this sense, and the modern Arabic name of the narcissus {buseil) is radically identical with the Hebrew hahutzeleth, rendered " rose " in our version. If instead of crossing by 'Ain Karim to 'Ain Haniyeh the traveller follows the main road from Kolonia to the capital, he will find scenery fully as picturesque and interesting as that already described. Ascending by a steep zigzag he reaches the edge of the Jerusalem plateau, and will turn to cast a look on the road just past, soon hidden by the brow of the watershed ridge. Beneath him lie the dark gardens of Kolonia, and directly opposite rises the ridge on which Kastal stands, on a hia-h knoll shuttinor- out the view of the maritime plain. The olive-yards of 'Ain Karim are visible on the left, with bare ridges rising in broad steps like those of an amphitheatre, and due to the regular stratification of the limestone. On the right the same valley is seen winding down from the chalky plateau where stands the curious conical mound called Taliel-el-Ful, and the ridges beyond are equally rocky and barren in appearance (see pages i88 and 213). The view is here bounded by the hill-crest on which the tall minaret of Neby Samwil stands out against the sky, and on the south side of the valley the village of Lifta is visible, perched on the edge of a precipitous, descent. This village has been identified by some authors with the " Fountain of the Water of Nephtoah," which lay on the border of Judah ; but it is far more probably the ancient Eleph, a city of Benjamin. As the traveller recalls the scenes of this mountain district, he will see in imagination the tall Philistines in their mail coats and bronze helmets flying before the despised herdsmen of Judah, armed only with goads or mattocks. He will recall the handful of ill-disciplined zealots driving back the trained soldiers of Antioch from the hill of Beth-horon. He will see in his THE KING'S MOUNTAIN. 209 mind's eye Judas and his brethren stealing down in the darkness and massing their troops at early dawn hidden among the folds of the chalk downs south of Emmaus. Finally, he will in fancy behold the band of starved but unconquerable devotees who looked down from the rocks of Bether on the impassable girdle of wall and camp drawn round their stronghold by ALTAR OF CHURCH OF ST. JOHN, 'AIN KARIM. On the north side of the altar seven steps descend to a crypt, the alleged birthplace of the Baptist. The monks and brethren are chiefly Spaniards. the British legions of Severus. It is the same tale of indomitable courage, constant devotion to the faith, and skill in the tactics of mountain warfare that is repeated at each famous site ; but it is ever a tale of struggle and misery, and the festal scene annually witnessed at the willow brook of Kolonia is but one bright spot in the stern history of the King's Mountain, It has been mentioned in describing the church of Abu Ghosh that the Crusaders fixed 28 2IO PICTURESQUE PALESTINE, that site as representing Anathoth, the home of the prophet Jeremiah ; and since the actual site of this village is not commonly visited by travellers in Palestine, a few words of description may be here added, Anathoth was a town of Benjamin, and is mentioned as re-peopled after the Captivity, the name occurring with those of places north of Jerusalem. According to the Talmud it was built by a giant named Ahiman. The site is de- scribed by Theodorus in the sixth century as being near Olivet and six miles from Jerusalem. Marino Sanuto also marks the same place on his curious map, and we can have no hesitation in recognising Anathoth at the modern village of 'Anata (see page 211). 'Anata is reached by a road which crosses the ridge imme- diately north of the Mount of Olives, and which runs down to Jericho by the great gorge of Wady Kelt. On passing the ridge the traveller notices some curious stone heaps called Rujum- el-Behimeh, " Cairns of the Beast," which seem to be noticed by Marino Sanuto in the fourteenth century, who identifies them with the stone of Bohan, which was •AIN HANIYEH, IN THE VALLEY OF ROSES. Commonly called Philip's Fountain, and regarded as a sacred place by the Latins. 'ANATA. 211 actually east of Jericho. The village itself is remarkable only for the pillar shafts which have been built into the walls of the houses. The tesselated pavement of a fair-sized church was discovered in 1874 on the open ground immediately west of the hamlet, and the site was no doubt once consecrated to the prophet Jeremiah, whose birthplace v/as at Anathoth. The view from the high spur on which the village stands is very remarkable, and presents a strong contrast to those which have been previously described. The There are the remains of ancient foundations here, and the quarries still supply Jerusalem with building stone. high ground on the south and west conceals the Holy City from sight, but on the east and north the spurs falling from the water- shed to the Jordan Valley are spread before the eye. Long, narrow, gleaming ridges of chalk, with curious conical knolls ca.sting peaked shadows on the nearest slopes, mark the action of rain on the softer formation, and contrast with the more rounded outline of the limestone hill west of the watershed. Wady Kelt, a deep chasm rent in the mountains, flanked by sheer precipices many hundred feet high, is unlike any of the ravines which drain the western hills towards the Mediterranean ; and the entire absence of vegetation, the sudden disappearance of the dark copses, which are replaced by scattered acacias or by the brown clumps of bellan — a thorny plant of the family of Rosacise, which might be called the 212 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. heather of Palestine — makes a marked contrast between the eastern and western slopes of the King's Mountain. The grey plain of Jericho and the black snake-like line of the Jordan jungle are dimly seen through the hot haze which generally hangs over the valley. The noble ranges of Nebo and Mount Gilead close the view on the east, and the blue-grey mountain of bare rock now called Tell 'Asur — probably the ancient Baal Hazor — forms the sky-line on the north. The little dust-coloured villages perched on the slopes and crowning the ridges are nearly all famous in Jewish history. Nearest to the spectator is Hozmeh, the ancient Azmaveth, standing on a hill-top above the curious rude stone monuments called " Graves of the Amalekites" — or "of the Sons of Israel." Farther away is Jeba, the ancient Geba of Benjamin, where Jonathan smote the Philistine garrison, and where the Benjamites were almost exterminated. Michmash, on the opposite side of the great passage, lies low, and is hidden by higher ground ; and Parah of Benjamin is recognisable in the ruins above the beautiful pool of 'Ain Farah, in the gorge east of Jeba. Still farther away lie Bethel, Ai, Rimmon, Ephron, and other sites of minor interest. On a lower spur between Anathoth and Azmaveth is a ruin with ancient wells marking the site now called 'Alnut, and in the book of Ezra, Almon or Alemeth. This place has an interest not generally recognised, for, according to the Targums, Almon was identical with the long-sought Bahurim, famous in the history of David. Of the position of Bahurim we have but little indication in Scripture. It was on David's route from Jerusalem to the Jordan Valley, and apparently in the territory of Benjamin, and certainly beyond the brow of the range of Olivet. It appears that the road ran beneath the hillside near Bahurim, for Shimei " went along on the hillside," casting stones on the patient monarch, who accepted his curses and his penitence with equal dignity. All these requisites are found at 'Alnut. The ancient highway to Jericho descends by the spur on which the city stood, after passing the brow of the hill near Anathoth ; the ruin lies well within the limits of the territory of Benjamin, and Jewish tradition identifies the site by the later name which the place still retains. It was then, perhaps, in one of those ancient wells still existing in the ruins that Jonathan and Ahimaaz lay hidden beneath the parched corn spread in the sun in the court of a man's house in Bahurim. The thirty miles of road between Jerusalem and Shechem are probably better known to the majority of travellers than any other portion of the country ; with exception, perhaps, of the high-road between Jaffa and the Holy City. Yet there are many points of interest along this northern route which are unnoticed in even the latest guide-book, but are not the less worthy of attention from all who are interested in the antiquities of Palestine. Some of the most interesting of these unnoticed sites may therefore be briefly described in the succeeding pages. Passing beneath the arch of the " Pillar Gate," as the Damascus Gate is called by the Moslems — which, with its crenellated parapet and flanking towers, is the most picturesque entrance to the city — the traveller sets out along a stony lane between drystone walls and JEREMIAH'S GROTTO. 213 broad olive groves. On his right are the steep cliff, and the cavern called since the fifteenth century "Jeremiah's Grotto," where the tombs of Sultan Ibrahim and Barukh-ed-Din, Kady of Jerusalem, are shown ; which cavern once, perhaps, formed part of the great quarries immediately south. This place, according to Jewish tradition, was once the " House of Stoning," or place of public execution according to the law. Between the cliff and the road is a garden plot, in which remains of a Crusading building of large size were laid bare in 1873. The discovery of a series of stone mangers identifies this ruin with the Asnerie, or Templars' THE VILLAGE OF SH'ApiT, ON THE SUPPOSED SITE OF NOB, THE CITY OF THE PRIESTS. The conical hill in the background is the artificial mound called Taliel-el-Ffil. By some writers Nob has been identified with El Isawtyeh, a village in the same district. hostelry, described as having been just without the old Gate of St. Stephen, the present Damascus Gate. There are also remains of a hermit's cave and charnel-house close by, and the plot of ground would probably well reward the explorer who could command sufficient funds entirely to clear it out. The stony lane leads through the middle of the ancient Jerusalem cemetery, lining the slopes of Wady-el-Joz — the Valley of Nuts — and leaves on the right the rock-cut tomb of Simon the Just, the catacombs of the royal family of Adiabene, and many other sepulchres of the ancient city. Traversing the olives, it climbs a long hill and reaches the watershed 214 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. ridge at a place called Ras Sherifeh, "the high hill top," the crest whence Jerusalem first comes fully in view when approached from the north. Turning back to obtain a last glance of the Holy City, the spectator looks across the dark olives to the long line of grey battlemented wall, behind which rise the tower and dome of the Holy Sepulchre Church, and to the left, and lower down, the great dome of the Kubbet-es-Sakhra, crowned with its gilded crescent and covered with flights of doves. On the extreme right, the ugly Byzantine cathedral built by the Russians, with its white wall and heavy cupola, is the most conspicuous object ; and the foreground is formed by the great stone heaps west of the road, which one is tempted to imagine may have formed part of the MObQUE AND TOMB AT ER RAM, THE RAMAH OF BENJAMIN. A group of peasants m the foreground : the woman wearing a head-dress formed parapet of the Roman camp at the time of the great siege. Looking northward, a desolate scene unfolds before the eye. A plateau of white chalk, bare and strewn with stones ; a village among olives, a curious conical mound, and distant ridges of hard grey limestone, their sides covered with patches of rich red soil. This point of view is one whence many a famous soldier has first looked down on the Holy City. It was probably on this plateau that Alexander the Great, ascending from Antipatris, met the venerable Jaddua, clothed in his pontifical vestments, and heading the procession of Jewish SH'AFAT. 215 notables, whom the conqueror received so courteously. It was here that Titus fixed his camp at Scopus, the place whence the great walls and golden facade of the Temple were first clearly seen. It was in this stony slope that the first Crusaders languished under the fierce summer sun, laboriously constructing their wooden towers with materials foraged from a great distance, while man and beast died daily in camp from want of water and of food. The village immediately to the north is now called Sh'afat, and the name is said by the inhabitants to have been that of a king of Jerusalem — evidently Jehosaphat, as the Arabic word contains all the radical letters of that monarch's name. In the twelfth and fourteenth RUINS OF CRUSADERS' CHURCH AT EL BIREH, THE ANCIENT BEEROTH. Nothing is left of this building but its three apses, the north wall, and a fragment of the south wall. The space within is now converted into a corn-field. centuries, a village called Jehosaphat is mentioned north of the capital and seems to be the same place. Possibly also the Valley of Jehosaphat, near Jerusalem, mentioned by the prophet Joel, may have lain in this direction, though traditionally identified with the Brook Kedron. Sh'afat seems to be an ancient site, and may perhaps be best identified with Nob, the city of the priests, which lay apparently in sight of Jerusalem, on the main line of the Assyrian advance from the north, if we may so interpret the words of Isaiah, " Yet shall he remain at Nob that day, he shall shake his hand against the Mount of the Daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem" (see page 213). 2l6 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. Another place which must have occupied the same or a neighbouring site is Mizpeh, the place of view," which was " over against Jerusalem," and possibly identical with the Sapha, or "prospect" whence Alexander first saw the city, and with the later Scopus, or " place of outlook." The name Sh'afat might indeed be thought to be a corruption of Mizpeh or Sapha, although in its present form quite unconnected with those words. There is also some reason A HALT FOR THE NIGHT IN THE KHAN OF EL BIREH, THE ANCIENT BEEROTH. The village owes its ancient and modern names, which signify "cistern," to the abundant supply of water in its neighbourhood. The khan is near to the chief spring. for supposing that Mizpeh and Nob were different names, used at different periods, for that city in the land of Benjamin where the Tabernacle stood from the death of Eli until the time of the massacre by Saul of the house of Abimelech. Immediately north-east of Sh'afat, and east of the road, is the curious mound called Taliel-el-Ful, "the Hillock of the Bean" (see pages i88 and 213). Excavations made in this TALIEL EL-FUL. 217 mound by the Royal Engineers show it to be an artificial platform, supported by rude walls, having originally either a lower surrounding platform or flights of steps leading up. There is nothing to show the date of the structure, nor is there any known reference to it in history ; but its commanding position seems to indicate that it may have been intended for a beacon. Jerusalem is plainly seen from the top, and almost all the towns of Benjamin as far north as Bethel are visible. There are no traces of any other buildings round the platform, and the site is that of an isolated monument, not of a former city or village. It is curious that so cautious To the north-west, in the highest part of the village, are the ruins of a tower with ancient substructions. a writer as the great Dr. Robinson should have identified Taliel - el - Ful with Gibeah of Saul. In the first place there is no connection between the two names, nor is the distance between Taliel-el-Fiil and Jerusalem more than two-thirds that mentioned by Josephus as separating Gabaoth Saule from the capital. The latter village was by the " Valley of Thorns ; " and we are thus, apparently, directed to Gibeah of Benjamin, standing on the brink of the present Wady Suweintt, " the valley of the little thorn tree," which runs beneath the ancient cliff of Seneh, or " the thorn bush." Gibeah also was in view of Michmash, and the latter place is invisible from Taliel-el-Ful ; while, as already noticed, there are no remains of any town nearer than Sh'afat to this curious conical stone 29 2l8 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. heap, which forms so prominent a feature on the barren plateau. Following the road which descends gradually north of Taliel-el-Ful, a fine view of the rugged ranges round Neby Samwil is obtained ; and the two ancient fallen milestones, one of which is inscribed with the names of the Antonine emperors, are passed. The road here bifurcates, one branch leading towards Gibeon and Beth-horon on the left, the other passing by the village of Er Ram, which is conspicuous for the white domed tomb-house on the hill-top (see page 214). Er Ram is the ancient Ramah of Benjamin ; but it seems too far south to represent the more famous town of Ramah, the home and burial-place of Samuel, which was in Mount Ephraim. The flat depression now gained is the head of the great valley called Wady Beit Hanina, which has been previously described ; and the low ridge beyond it on the west conceals from view the terraced hill of Gibeon. A crumbling mound, with traces of ruins, exists beside the Beth-horon road, just beyond the valley-head, and is one of the sites generally overlooked. Its present name 'Adasa, and its position, about thirty stadia from Beth-horon, and the tradition common among the peasantry of a former conflict at the place, are indications which when taken together seem clearly to indicate that this ruin is the site of 'Adasa, where Judas Maccabseus defeated and slew the impious Nicanor, who was advancing from Beth- horon with the avowed intention of destroying the Temple. The bare plateau thus gains interest in our eyes as the scene of one of the most gallant of the battles fought by the great Hasmonian leader. After passing Er Ram the path leads under the hill of 'Attara, the Astaroth of the mediaeval writers, and thus reaches the village of Btreh, the ancient Beeroth of Benjamin, a rambling stone hamlet with a fine spring, and ruins of a beautiful Gothic church and of an ancient khan (see pages 215 and 216). Pausing by the spring which runs out beneath the walls of a little building which forms the village guest-house, we may glance at the history of the village and its church. Beeroth of Benjamin is not a site conspicuous in Jewish history, though probably identical with the Berea where Bacchides collected his forces before the fatal battle of Berzetho, in which Judas Maccabaeus was slain. The church, which was built by the Franks in the first half of the twelfth century, was consecrated to St. Mary, and the town, which boasted of Frankish burghers, was given by Baldwin IV. to the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre, with Mezr'ah — not far north — in exchange for Kefr Malik and 'Ain Kinia, villages in the same district. The place was sometimes called Magina by the Franks, and sometimes Grand Mahomery, in contradistinction to Little Mahomery, or Beit Surik. A tradition mentioned by Maundrell makes Bireh to be the place where, after going a day's journey with their company, Joseph and Mary found that the child Jesus had tarried behind in Jerusalem. The story is not, however, mentioned in the Byzantine accounts of the country, nor even in the Crusading descriptions before the fifteenth century. The apses and side walls, with beautiful carved capitals of various designs once supporting BIREH. 219 the roof arches, are all now remaininor of the church. The walls are of unusual thickness, 1^ but the pillar shafts are graceful and slender, unlike the heavy columns which occur in the earliest speci- mens of Crusading architecture. The khan appears to be partly constructed from ancient materials, and the sloping outer wall has the appearance of mediaeval work. During the reign of the Latin kings Bireh was evidently a place of importance, and was rebuilt by the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. In 132 1 Marino Sanuto speaks of it as "a city of considerable size," although in 1 2 10 it was found lying entirely in ruins. Crossing another valley-head the road now climbs up to a plateau yet more barren than the country already traversed. Nothing more desolate or bleak can be well imagined. On the left a white slope of gleaming chalk, on the right a low cliff, a terraced hill, a c, » REMAINS OF A CHURCH AT BEITIN. Said to have been erected as a memorial of Jacob's dream at Bethel. 220 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. miserable hamlet of half-ruinous stone huts, with a central high house or tower. Drystone walls enclose fields scattered with loose stones, while on the slopes the rock is grey and bare, without a single blade of green grass and almost entirely devoid of trees or shrubs. Such is the site of one of the most famous towns of Palestine, for the modern villaofe of Beitin represents the ancient Bethel, or " House of God" (see page 217). Only one other city of Palestine, namely, Shechem, is noticed earlier in the Old Testament history than is Bethel. The second altar erected by Abraham stood between Bethel and Ai, and the same site was revisited by that patriarch on his return from Egypt, Probably the altar was still standing when Jacob fled from the south country to Harran and " lighted upon a certain place." He took of the stones of "that place " for his pillow, and called the name of " that place" Bethel ; but the name of the city near which the "place" was situate was called originally Luz, Again, the " place " called El Bethel at Luz is mentioned on the return route of Jacob to the south, and the same word "place" is used four times in this chapter in reference to Bethel. It has not apparently been generally recognised that the Hebrew word thus rendered has a special significance, being the same employed to designate the "places" of the Canaanites, or idolatrous shrines. The word in the original is Makom, identical with the Arabic Mukam or " standing place," by which a shrine or consecrated spot is now designated. The story gains force when the peculiar meaning of the term is thus brought out. Jacob came to a certain shrine — probably the altar originally erected by his grandfather Abraham — and taking the stones from it for his pillow, slept under the protection of the hallowed sanctuary, which was very probably respected by the inhabitants of the neighbouring city of Luz. Just so at the present day the stranger will find a safe retreat in the vicinity of a Moslem Mukam, placing himself under the protection of the tutelary deity. From the sanctuary the name seems, by the time at which the Book of Joshua was written, to have been transferred to the neighbouring city of Luz, and is enumerated as that of one of the towns of Benjamin. There is also in the Book of Judges an unrecognised reference to Bethel in the account of the slaughter of the Benjamites ; for by " the House of God," where the ark was in those days, Josephus understands Bethel to be intended, and this interpretation is strengthened by the notice in the same chapter of the highway leading from Gibeah to the " House of God," which from the context was evidently in the immediate vicinity of the Benjamite city. Again, in the time of Samuel we find notice of three men "going up to God to Bethel," an expression which shows that the place was a religious centre in the days of Saul. Bethel was thus apparently a venerated shrine throughout the earlier period of Hebrew history preceding the building of the Temple in Jerusalem. It was indeed — with exception of the altar near Shechem — the most ancient sanctuary in the land, and there was nothing in the re-establishment by Jeroboam of the same site as a religious centre which would have appeared a striking innovation in the eyes of the Israelites. It was a mere revival of an BETHEL. 221 ancient religious gathering, as the golden calves, symbolic of Jehovah, were the same emblems which had been sanctioned by Aaron in the Wilderness as representing the national deity. In the later Jewish history the names Bethel, " the House of God," and Beth Aven, "the House of Nothingness," are used apparently as synonymous terms for a single site. Jewish commentators state that the two places were identical, and in the name Bethaun we see perhaps the early corruption whence the modern title Beitin was derived — a form which was in use at least as early as the fourteenth century. Barren and stony as the bleak plateau of Bethel is in appearance, it is nevertheless supplied with water from four good springs. To the east is the ruined monastery called Burj Beitin ; to the north is Deir Shabib, " the monastery of young men " mentioned in the Cartulary of the Holy Sepulchre as forming part of the property of that church. To the south are remains of a fine ancient reservoir about one hundred yards in length, while a great valley is visible running down toward Michmash, and forming probably the hiding-place where the Israelite ambush was set between Bethel and Ai. Close to the village is the ruin of a little church with a single apse, having the appearance of earlier work than that of the Crusaders, and marking the site where it was supposed that the patriarch's vision of angels must have occurred (see page 219). North of Beitin is a curious circle of stones, perhaps so arranged by a freak of nature, but having the appearance of a rude stone monument. East of the reservoir is a rock-cut tomb, probably that to which Isaac Chelo refers as the sepulchre of the prophet Ahijah ; and, indeed, its position on the side of the mount is one which might not unnaturally be expected for the sepulchre of the man of God who testified against the altar in Bethel — a tomb left untouched by Josiah on the occasion of his destruction of Jeroboam's high place. In the Middle Ages considerable confusion arose respecting the site of Bethel. In the fourth century the place was known, and St. Jerome speaks of "the House of God, where naked upon the bare ground poor Jacob lay, and, placing beneath his head the stone which is described in Zechariah as having seven eyes, and is called the corner-stone by Isaiah, saw the ladder stretching even to Heaven." In the sixth century Theodorus mentions the same site, but the majority of the twelfth- century pilgrims pass it over in silence, while many of the more important accounts accept the Samaritan identification of Bethel with Mount Gerizim. Jacques de Vitray, in the thir- teenth century, even supposes Jerusalem to be Bethel, and the Sakhra Rock, in the Temple enclosure, to be the stone that had formed Jacob's pillar, and which is traditionally identified with the Lia Fail, or " Stone of Destiny," brought from Ireland to Scotland, and by Edward III. from Scone to Westminster, where it now forms part of the coronation chair. It seems indeed clear that the true site of Bethel was unknown to the Crusaders, although the village was sold by Hugh of Ibelin, in the time of Baldwin V., to the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. A short divergence from the main road eastward brings the traveller to the ruin called 222 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. THE VILLAGE OF TAIYIBEH FROM THE HEIGHTS OF RUMMAN. ' The former is said to represent Ophrah and the latter Rimmon. El Mukatir, a Byzantine chapel not improbably marking the supposed site of Abraham's altar; and the view thence extends over the little plateau where stands the modern village of Deir Diwan, close to the ruin of Haiyan, which appears to be the true site of Ai — a city mentioned in Scripture as being " close to " Bethel, which, is distant only two miles from Haiyan. iM-om this detour into a region not generally visited by the traveller we must now return to the main road north of Bethel ; and here, as we ride along the watershed ridge, an interesting and picturesque view opens out on the west. A WADY-EL-JIB. 223 deep valley (Wady-el~Jib) runs northward between steep mountain sides. Terraces of fig-trees clothe the rugged slopes with pale green foliage, and the vine is cultivated on both WADY-EL-JIB. A characteristic example of a valley in the favoured territory of Ephraim. The olive-trees, shading the ancient foot-paths, proclaim that a village is near. sides of the ravine. The Christian village of Jufna lies in the widest part of the basin, and farther north is 'Ain Sinia; while on the western hills Bir-ez-Zeit is also inhabited by Latins. These three sites are each worthy of a few words of notice. 224 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. Jufna, taking its name, which means " vine," from the vine cultivation surrounding it, is the ancient Gophna, the capital of one of the ten toparchies, or counties, into which Judsea was divided about the Christian era. Gophna is unnoticed in the Bible, and this instance, like that of Sepphoris or Tarichese in the north, and of Bethgubrin in the south, affords a good example of the fact that many of the important towns of Palestine, especially of the later period, are not mentioned in the sacred volume — a fact which should warn us not to be too eager in the endeavour to identify important ancient sites with Biblical towns. Gophna is mentioned in the Talmud, and by Josephus in his account of the march of Titus from Samaria on Jerusalem. It is shown on the Peutinger Tables, the Roman survey of Palestine made in the second century of our era. It contains remains of a ruined tower and a modern Latin monastery. The ruins of the old Byzantine church of St. George are just outside the village. Bir-ez-Zeit, a good-sized village on the mountain to the west of Gophna, is probably the Berzetho of Josephus, the scene of the last fatal battle in which Judas Maccabseus lost his life in the year i6i B.C. The patriot had collected a force of three thousand men at Il'asa, near Beth-horon, and advanced to intercept the communications of Bacchides, who had reached Jerusalem by the north road through Samaria. The Greek general had, however, learned caution by former misfortunes, and came back rapidly to Bireh and to Bethel, which lay within sight of the Jewish army, occupying the high ridge which is visible west of Wady- el-Jib. A furious attack on the eastern wing of the Greeks, directed no doubt against their line of retreat through the narrow pass hereafter to be mentioned, was at first successful ; but the forces of Judas had dwindled by desertion during the night to only eight hundred men, and the army of Bacchides is said to have numbered twenty thousand foot and two thousand horse. The left wing closed in on the small band of patriots, and Judas was slain on the rugged mountain side after a short career of seven years of constant fighting. 'Ain Sinia, the third village in the vicinity of Wady-el-Jib, is remarkable for the rich cultivation of fig, olive, and vine which fills the valley and climbs the hillside. In the twelfth century this village, called Val de Curs by the Franks, was given to the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. It seems probable that the site, which is marked by numerous old rock-cut sepulchres (one having a Hebrew inscription), is that of the ancient Jeshanah, one of the three fortresses. Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephraim, built by Abijah to guard the three main approaches by which Jeroboam might advance on Jerusalem. The ancient Roman road runs from Bethel down to Gophna, and so along the valley to 'Ain Sinia, thence climbing the slope of a hill thickly covered with olives, to join the route which runs along the watershed and descends into the narrow pass which formed the natural boundary between the tribes of Benjamin and Ephraim. The region which we leave behind is one of the principal Christian districts of Southern Palestine. Ramallah — the white village so conspicuous from the neighbourhood of Sh'afat and Bireh — contains a Latin convent; Jufna, 'Ain 'Arik, Bir-ez-Zeit, Jania, Taiyibeh (see page 222), and Deir Diwan are THE ROBBERS' SPRING. 225 all Christian villages. In the Middle Ages nearly all this district belonged to the Church, twenty-one villages north of Jerusalem having been given by Godfrey to the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre, while Sinjil, Bethel, Turmus 'Ayya, Mezrah, Kefr Malik, and others, were acquired later by this powerful body of ecclesiastics. Traces of the Crusaders are found in all parts of the district, from the two castles which dominate the northern pass, to the rocky fortress of Neby Samwil on the south ; at Bireh, Beitin, Jufna, Taiyibeh, Neby Samwil, and Mukatir, ancient churches and chapels remain in ruins ; and at Arnutieh and other places there are small forts apparently of Crusading origin. The narrow pass which we now approach is one of the wildest parts of the road between Nablus and Jerusalem, which here becomes a mere lane thickly strewn with loose stones. SEILUN, ON THE SITE OF SHILOH. Where the sacred tent and the ark remained for four centuries. To the left of the road a square building of large drafted stones seems probably to have been a Crusading fort or hostel, and a vertical cliff of hard rock reaches up some twenty or thirty feet, while the steep hill above is terraced and planted with olives. A small spring drips out of the precipice, and is called 'Ain-el-Haramiyeh, " the Robbers' Spring." On the flat rocky bed of the valley a little coarse grass grows near the water, and a group of camels, tawny and dusty, may probably be found reposing in the shade, while their drivers, kneeling on the carefully spread abbas, are reciting the afternoon prayer — a ceremony no doubt religiously observed by the brigands from the nearest village, who once haunted the gorge and gave its name to the spring. To the right of the road an extremely steep mountain-' side, terraced in places, and in others belted with low cliffs, dominates the pass, rising more 30 226 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. than a thousand feet to Tell ' Asur, the highest point in Southern Palestine, a mountain of bare grey rock, with remains of an old Crusading fort called Burj-el-Lisaneh, " Tower of the Tongue." From the summit Mount llermon is clearly visible in the dis- tance — a dome of snow rising behind the lofty tops of Ebal and Gerizim. A more lonely place at sunset or by night than the Robbers' Spring can hardly be imagined. The dark shadow covers the valley long before the orange glow has faded from the upper rocks ; and the cry of the wild hawk, or the howl of the jackal, with the grumbling of the camels, are the only sounds which the traveller hears re-echoed from the surrounding pre- cipices. Looking southward, he sees below the steep path a rock-cut entrance leadinor to a small tomb- ANCIENT DOORWAY AT SHILOH, AND RUINS OF THE "CONVENT CASTLE " IN WADY LUBBAN (LEBONAH). SINJIL. 227 chamber in the cliff, and the view is closed by the terraced hill, dark with olives, on the summit of which stands Burj Bardawil, " Baldwin's Tower," an old fortress named, no doubt, after one of the Latin kings, and commanding the approach from Nablus to Jerusalem A THRESHING-FLOOR. Peasants winnowing grain with large wooden forka, and a team dragging a sledge, the under surface of which is armed with sharp flints, to cut up the straw. through the pass. Even within the last half-century the castle has been the scene of faction fights between the villagers of Yebrud, 'Ain Abrud, Selwad, and 'Ain Sinia. From the Robbers' Spring the stony lane again ascends towards a fertile plateau, with a steep mountain pass in front. To the left, on the hill, is the village of Sinjil ; to the right, in the plain, that of Turmus 'Ayya. Sinjil is one of the few places in Palestine where a 228 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. Prankish name has survived ; perhaps because the town was founded by the Franks, and had no other title. Fetellus informs us that during the First Crusade, Raymond, fourth Count of Toulouse, " dit de Saint Gilles," advanced by this road, and camped at a certain casale on the night before he reached the Holy City. The distances given show that this casale — by which word William of Tyre tells us was meant an open village of one hundred houses, paying a tax of one bezant each to the seigneur — was near the Robbers' Spring, and we can have no hesitation in recognising the name of Casale Saint Gilles in the modern Sinjil, a place which, with Turmus 'Ayya (the Thormasia of the Talmud), became church property at a later period. The region between Bethel and Shechem, belonging to the tribe of Ephraim, is yet more rugged than that round Jerusalem ; the valleys are deeper, the mountains steeper and more rocky, and the character of the watershed different — broad, open vales and small plateaux, like that of Turmus 'Ayya, existing close to the central ridge. The country near Jufna is also remarkable for the extent of its cultivation, it being generally observable in Palestine that the Christian villages flourish better than those of the Moslems, partly because the Christians can claim protection from foreign powers, which the Moslems do not enjoy, being left, without any protector, to the tyranny of the Turks. But another reason for the greater prosperity of Christian districts is no doubt to be found in the helpless fatalism and indolent resignation of the Moslems, contrasted with the energy and enterprise of the villagers educated by the Greek and Latin priests. On the stony ascent near Sinjil, and in other parts of the road, the traces of the ancient Roman pavement are visible. A fence of stone was made along the sides of the highway and huge polygonal blocks of stone were carefully fitted together to form the roadway, as in the streets of Pompeii. From the narrow saddle which is now reached the first view of Gerizim is obtained, a long ridge rising to a blunt summit, with a steep eastern shoulder, not unlike that of Helvellyn seen from near Dunmail Raise. At its feet is the brown plain of the Mukhnah, and Hermon closes the view in the extreme distance; while in the foreground, at the foot of the steep stony winding descent, is the ruined inn and the beautiful spring of Khan Lubban. The mountains of Ephraim — long spurs covered on the west with thickets of mastic and dwarf pine — are drained by two main watercourses, valleys so steep as to be almost impassable by horsemen, and each indicating an ancient political boundary. The most southern of these — one of the longest valleys in the country — is formed by the junction of Wady Lubban with a more northern afHuent which rises north of Sawieh, a place hereafter to be described. The great valley runs down beneath the cliff on which the Byzantine monastery called Deir-el-Kul'ah, "convent castle," is perched (see page 226), and passes through the low chalky hills to Ras-el-'Ain, the ancient Antipatris, the Crusaders' Mirabel. The northern valley, rising at the foot of Gerizim, and flowing south-west, is scarcely less formidable. The southern watercourse formed the ancient boundary between Judaea and SHILOH. 229 Samaria ; the northern (Wady Kanah) is probably the brook Kanah, which divided the lot of Ephraim from that of Manasseh. Both valleys form a junction near Ras-el-'Ain, and the great pools beside that ruin are those fed by the rainfall from an area of four hundred square miles of mountain country. But on reaching the plateau near Sinjil the traveller will probably make a detour to the east, in order to visit the secluded ruin of Seilun, the Shiloh of the Old Testament. An ancient causeway leads up the slope of a chalky hill from the open plain of Turmus 'Ayya. Gaining the saddle, the traveller sees in front of him a grey ruin of tumbledown stone huts clustering round the side of a kind of knoll. In the low ground near the approach is a flat-roofed building shaded by a large oak ; this is called Jami'a-el-Yetaim, " Mosque of the Worshippers." On the right, higher up, is another square structure, roofless and half ruinous, with some smaller trees. This is called Jami'a-el-Arb'ain, " Mosque of the Forty " (Companions of the Prophet). A little tank with steps is seen close to the first-mentioned building. The view is restricted on either side by hills, and north of .the ruins rises a long barren ridge of grey limestone, with a few scattered fig-trees. Immediately behind the knoll of the ruined village is a deep valley. Several tombs are cut in the rock on either side of the town, and a fine spring, with some rock-cut sepulchres, exists about three-quarters of a mile to the east, near the valley head. The site, remote from the main road, and hidden in the bosom of the hills, is so secluded that it might easily escape the notice even of a careful explorer ; and it is not surprising that for so many centuries it remained altogether unknown, though still preserving its ancient name among the villagers who, until quite of late years, inhabited the place. The " Mosque of the Forty," which is reached before arriving at the ruined village, is a building of puzzling character. It has been constructed at different periods, and used for different purposes. The mosque itself is a small chamber of inferior masonry, built against the eastern wall of the ancient structure, with a small mihrab, or prayer recess, towards the south. The main building is a square of thirty-seven feet side, with solid walls of good masonry, the door being to the north. The doorway is spanned by a flat lintel, having on it a representation, in low relief, of a vase flanked by two wreaths ; and the design resembling those on the Galilean synagogues, and almost identical with that over an ancient rock-cut tomb some few miles off at Beita, is of the character which belongs to the Jewish art of the later period, from Herod to Hadrian ; and though possibly not in situ, we can have little hesitation in identifying the lintel as of Jewish origin (see page 226). The remains of four pillars, which seem to have supported the roof, are visible among the thorns and weeds inside the monument ; and a sloping scarp — apparently a later addition — is built against the wall on the outside. Isaac Chelo, of Aragon, almost the only traveller, Jewish or Christian, who mentions Seilun, seems very possibly to refer to this building. He speaks of " a very remarkable sepulchral monument where the Jews and Moslems keep lamps perpetually burning," and 230 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. calls it the Tomb of Eli and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas. The building just described cannot apparently have been a church, the square form being unusual for such a structure and the walls being so perfect as to show that it never had either an apse — which is almost invariably found in Syrian churches — or a western door, which is equally essential. The form would be suitable for a masonry sepulchre, several of which are known in Palestine : and if the building be of Jewish origin, the lintel may perhaps be in situ. There is nothing further of note in the ruins of Shiloh, excepting, perhaps, the sort of JACOB'S WELL, AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT GERIZIM. The true mouth of the well is in the floor of a little vaulted chamber below the surface of the ground. sunk court, four hundred feet long and seventy-five feet wide, which exists on the side of the knoll, north of the houses, and which is thought possibly to have been the place where the Tabernacle stood. In the Mishnah the foundation of the holy house, when erected at Shiloh, is said to have been of stone ; but this has of course long since disappeared. The history of Shiloh commences with the conquest of the country by Joshua, and with the establishment of the Ark in this remote town, which lay within the territory of the sons of Joseph, to whom Joshua belonged by descent. The sacred tent and the Ark remained SHILOH. 231 for four centuries fixed at Shiloh, and only after the death of Eli and the loss of the Ark was the Tabernacle removed to Nob. From that time Shiloh seems to have been completely forgotten, and appears no more in history. Yet even during the period of its fame its position seems to have been thought to require special description, and there is no topogra- phical passage in the Bible which so clearly and distinctly indicates the position of a town JOSEPH'S TOMI From the north, showing the rumed kubbeh which adjoins it. The cenotaph and one of the pillars appear within the doorway. as that which defines the situation of Shiloh. " Behold," we read, " there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh yearly, in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah." In the time of Phinehas — according to the chronology of Josephus — Shiloh became the scene of an adventure )' which recalls the rape of the Sabines, namely, the forcible provision of wives for the surviving Benjamites. Among the thick leaves of the low vine-bushes the men of Benjamin lay hid, as the Israelite damsels, robed in their holiday attire, marched out to the sound of the timbrel, clapping their hands and dancing, as the bands of women may still be seen to dance on festive occasions among these wild mountains. " And the children of Benjamin took them wives according to the number of them that danced whom they caught." Possibly the name " Meadow of the Feast," which 232 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. applies to part of the plain south of Shiloh, may preserve the memory of the yearly feast at this place; but the vineyards have disappeared from the hillsides, though it cannot be doubted that the neighbourhood is still fitted for the growth of the vine. Shiloh was known to that indefatigable explorer, St. Jerome, who places it ten Roman miles from Shechem, in the province of Acrabattene, clearly intending the present site of Seilun ; and in describing the pilgrimage of his friend, Sta. Paula, he says, " What shall I tell of Shiloh, in which the altar is still shown overthrown, and where the tribe of Benjamin anticipated the Sabine rape by Romulus ?" But, with the exception of this great writer, no traveller speaks of this remote village except Isaac Chelo in 1334 a.d,, as already quoted ; while in the twelfth century, and down to the fifteenth, we find the hill of Neby Samwil regarded as the site of Shiloh, contrary to the most definite language of Scripture, It was left to Dr. Robinson to recover the long-lost site answering so exactly to the account in the Book of Judges of the position of Shiloh. Passing down the valley westward, we rejoin the main road beneath Khan Lubban, and so follow the course of a flat vale beneath the ancient village Lubban, or Lebonah, the Beth Laban of the Talmud, and the Lepna of the fourteenth century. Beth Laban, it may be remarked, was a place the wine of which was used in the Temple services, but it was so close to the Samaritan border that a doubt arose as to its being sufficiently pure for the purpose, Beth Rima (now Beit Rima) was another place in the same category ; Keruthim (Keriut) was a third; and these three names thus form valuable indications of the border between Samaria and Judaea. From the farther end of the open valley of Lebonah we ascend a slope, on which stands the ruin of Khan-es-Sawieh, named from a neighbouring village. A good spring with a spreading oak-tree near the khan form a resting-place, and the site has an interest not generally recognised. Pere Lievin, the able author of the Catholic guide-book for pilgrims, seems to have been the first to discover that Khan Sawieh stands close to the ruins of an ancient village called Berkit, a discovery which has since been verified in a satisfactory manner. Now Josephus tells us that Anuath, or Borceos, was the boundary town between Samaria and Judaea ; and the distance noticed in the Onomasticon (or Topographical Dictionary of Eusebius and Jerome) between Anuath and Nablus brings us on the map to the neighbourhood of Khan Sawieh. East of the road, at some little distance, is a ruin called 'Aina, and this with Berkit represent probably Anuath and Borceos, thus fixing the boundary at this point. When, in addition, we remember the sites of Keruthim, Beth Laban, and Beth Rima, already noticed, and know that Antipatris was also a border town, we are able to identify the boundary between Judsea and Samaria with the great valley already noticed, generally called Wady Deir Ballut. Acrabbi, again, is noticed by Josephus as on this border, and is represented by the modern village 'Akrabeh, immediately east of which the valley first sinks from the watershed. At Khan Sawieh, therefore, we stand at the boundary of Judaea, and as we pass the stony valley 31 234 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. immediately north of it, we cross into the region of Samaria and become concerned with Samaritan traditions and topography. The fine oak-tree near the spring of Khan Sawieh is one of the few large trees of Southern Palestine, the number of which can almost be counted on the fingers. Three species of oak exist in Syria, of which the evergreen oak attains the largest size, and is called balliit in Arabic. The second species, called sindidn and afs, forms a brushwood of prickly shrubs eight to twelve feet in height ; and the third, the gall oak, grows as a small tree twenty feet high, called generally nialliil, but sometimes sindidn. The large single oaks, like Abraham's oak at Hebron, are rare, but the gall oak is very common in parts of Galilee, growing in thick woods and open glades west of Nazareth, on Tabor, near the sources of Jordan, and in the northern part of the plain of Sharon. The second species flourishes in the copses which cover the hard limestone of the spurs west of the watershed, but never occurs in the soft chalky districts, which are bare of brushwood. From the oak tree of Khan Sawieh we now march outward into Samaria, and gain the crest of a ridge whence Gerizim and the Mukhnah plain are distinctly visible. We enter upon a region of sacred tombs, and find the old heroes of the Hebrew invasion lying buried round the Mount of Blessing. Were these sites only venerated by the Samaritans, we might feel doubtful of their authentic character, but Jew and Christian agree in pointing to the same sites for the tombs of Joshua, Caleb, and Nun, Phinehas, Eleazar, and Ithamar, and that of Joseph rather farther north. The modern Samaritans identify Timnath Heres, where Joshua was buried, with the village Kefr Haris, on the hills south of Gerizim, where are three square domed buildings, sacred respectively to Neby Lush'a, Neby Nun, and Neby Kifl (an historic character of the age of the Prophet). In the fourth century St. Jerome apparently speaks of this same place in describing the route of Sta. Paula, in connection with the other sacred tombs .lying in this district, and as being still venerated. " Much she wondered," he writes, " that the divider of the possessions should have chosen for himself a lot so rugged and mountainous." A remark which applies well to the rough mountains round Kefr Haris. In the fourteenth century Marino Sanuto makes Kefr Haris and the tomb of Joshua in correct position on his map, but the Jewish descriptions of the place are still more important. Rabbi Jacob, of Paris, in 1258, notices the three tombs of Joshua, Caleb, and Nun at Kefr Haris. Estori Parchi gives the distance from Shechem as two leagues. Rabbi Gerson, of Scarmela, in 1 56 1, speaks of the monuments over the tombs, and of the caruba and pomegranate trees growing beside them. And finally, in 1564, Rabbi Uri, of Biel, gives a sketch showing three domed buildings with two trees, and liQ^hts burninor inside the domes. As regrards these sepulchres, we have thus an accord between four distinct lines of tradition, and the existence of the name of Mount Heres in the modern form of Haris. The plain called El Mukhnah, which we now approach, is a plateau larger than any previously crossed, though smaller than the watershed plains north of Shechem (see page 237). It measures about nine miles north and south, by four miles east and west, and consists of BALATA. 235 corn-land, with small olive groves covering the low rocky swells which rise from the plain and form sites for the villages. The present name Mukhnah is taken from the ruin of the old Samaritan town so called on the slope of Gerizim, and means " the camp," The Samaritans call it Merj-el-Baha, "the Flat Meadow," and identify it with the plain of Moreh, mentioned in the Bible as near Shechem. In the middle of the plain stands the village of 'Awertah, on rising ground among the olives, and well supplied with water. Here in the village itself is the ancient monument called by the Samaritans the tomb of Phinehas ; and on the west, shaded by a magnificent terebinth growing in the paved courtyard, is the domed tomb-house of Eleazar, with a Samaritan inscription of the last century. Ithamar is also said to be buried with Abishua not far off. The village mosque is, however, consecrated to a Moslem sheikh. There seems little doubt that 'Aw^ertah represents Gibeah Phinehas in Mount Ephraim, where Eleazar, the son of Aaron, and his family were buried. The Samaritans called the place Kefr Awerah and Abeartha, and the mediaeval Jewish travellers all notice the tombs of Eleazar, Phinehas, and Ithamar, the latter as lying among the olives below the village. Rabbi Gerson also describes a vaulted chamber, as yet unknown to modern travellers, where the seventy elders were entombed. Following the path worn in the white chalk along the feet of Gerizim, we pass by the spring of Sarina, to which a Samaritan legend similar to the story of Susanna attaches, and descend to the Vale of Shechem, west of the little village of Balata, with its fig garden and clear spring. Balata is one of the cities the importance of which is little recognised. Jerome identifies it with the oak of Shechem, which was by the Holy Place of Jehovah ; and the Samaritans give to the spot the names Ailon-Tubah and Shejr el Kheir, " Holy Oak," or " Tree of Grace." This sacred tree appears more than once in the Old Testament history ; first, perhaps, as the oak of Moreh beside the makom, or " place," of Shechem, where Abraham built his first altar ; and again as the oak where Jacob hid the teraphim ; apparently the same tree which was by the Sanctuary of the Lord, or altar El-Elohe-Israel, erected by Jacob on the parcel of ground which he bought from the children of Hamor. By this oak Joshua erected a great stone, which is noticed later as "the monument" by the oak of Shechem; and the Oak of the Meonenim, or soothsayers, near Shechem, is not improbably the same place. The tradition which fixes the site of this sanctuary farther west, at the little " Mosque of the Pillar," appears to be more modern, and, with several other sites round Shechem and on Ebal, seems to belong to the Crusading topography which connected Ebal and Gerizim with the Dan and Bethel of Jeroboam's calf-worship. This ancient sanctuary, the site of the first oak-tree beneath which the father of the Hebrews spread his tent in the promised land, and of the first "place," or makom, where he erected an altar, is naturally to be sought in the immediate vicinity of the well dug by his grandson Jacob ; and the undisputed site of that well is to be found immediately east of Balata. Not only is the Bir Y'akub the only well anywhere in the neighbourhood, but its existence so close to beautiful springs of water gushing out at the feet of Gerizim could scarcely be PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. accounted for were it not for the jealousy with which — as we learn from the Book of Genesis — the old Canaanites preserved their rights to the springs. For his own use, on his own land, the patriarch dug the well, leaving the fountains in possession of the native inhabitants. As we approach the spot we see a dusty patch of ground within a brokendown stone wall. Scattered stones and mounds of rubbish cover the plot, and the shafts of three granite columns stand up in the middle, their bases buried underground. At length we find a hole, in the roof of a little modern vault about twenty feet long east and west, with a pointed arch. The floor is piled with the dehi-is of the roof, and the well-mouth is choked, but the well itself, seventy-five feet deep, and seven feet six inches in diameter, is quite clear (see page 230). The ruins which surround the well are those of an ancient church. In another small vault to the north-west, now closed, the tesselated pavement may still be seen, and the bases of the pillars already noticed. In 383 a.d. Sta. Paula visited the church ; in 700 a.d. Arculphus gives a rude plan of it as cruciform. It was standing in the eighth century, and was rebuilt in the twelfth; for Theodorus, in 1172, speaks of the well as enclosed in the church — just as Sta. Paula found it — before the high altar. Even as late as 1550 an altar stood in the vault, and the site still belongs to the Greek church. Looking northward from the well, we see the dome of the little mosque by Joseph's Tomb— a site mentioned from the earliest time by travellers, Jewish, Samaritan, or Christian, and venerated by all sects alike — the companion of Jacob's Well, and probably as genuine a site, being authorised by that rare consent of various traditions which is found especially in respect to places near Shechem. The torhb stands in a little courtyard adjoining the ruined kubbeh, and is surrounded by plastered walls, renewed — as an inscription in English, on the south wall, tells us — by Consul Rogers, the friend of the Samaritans, in 1868. At either end of the rude cenotaph is a pillar on which lamps may be placed ; and the monument must be older than, from its rude construc- tion, would be supposed, for in 1564 Rabbi Vri, of Biel, gives a sketch of Joseph's Tomb which would correctly represent the present structure with its pillars. Jew, Samaritan, Moslem, and Christian venerate the site alike, although Josephus says that the bones of Joseph were carried to Hebron, and Saewulf notices, in iioo a.d., the same supposed tomb, which is still shown attached to the outer wall of the Hebron haram (see page 231). On the side of Ebal, above Joseph's Tomb, is the rude hamlet of 'Askar, with its rock-cut channel leading to the spring and its ancient sepulchres. The old Samaritan name for the place is Ischar, almost identical in sound with the Sychar which is mentioned in our version of the fourth Gospel. Jerome and other authorities, indeed, support the reading which substitutes Shechem for Sychar, and Dr. Robinson has proposed the theory that Sychar means " drunken," and was a Jewish nickname for the Samaritan capital. The spelling' of the old Samaritan name shows, however, that the derivation was from another root, meaning " to surround ;" and Shechem is too far from Jacob's Well to fit the narrative of Christ's conversation with the Samaritan woman. Nor is the expression, " Sychar, a city of Samaria," likely to have been used by a Jewish author with reference to the famous Shechem which JACOB'S WELL. 237 is mentioned by name in the Book of Acts. Sychar was well known to the early pilgrims as being near Jacob's Well, and about a mile from Shechem ; but the Crusaders confused the two sites, much as modern authors have done when unaware of the existence of ' A.skar. THE VILLAGE OF sIlIM. Opposite the eastern entrance to the Vale of Shechem, which is seen beyond the broad plain of Mukhnah. It probably represents the Salem near to which John baptized his disciples. Here, then, at the mouth of Jacob's Well, we stand on one of the few spots where we can feel any certainty that the feet of Christ must actually have trod. We look round on the same scene which greeted his eyes : we behold the same monuments venerated in his days. The PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. grey olive groves hide Shechem from our sight ; the rough rocky side of Gerizim rises to the ruins of that temple where the Samaritan still worships (see page 233). The tawny slopes and precipices of Ebal, the mountain of the curse, where, according to the quaint legends of the Middle Ages, Cain raised his altar and Jeroboam set up his golden calf, appear to the north. On the white chalk stands the humble hamlet of Sychar, beneath it the rude but TOMB OF PHINEHAS. On the eastern side of the village of 'Awertah, the ancient Gibeah Phinehas. ancient Tomb of Joseph ; while to the east the eye ranges to Salim near ^^non (see page 237) and to the wooded hill of Phinehas, where the great priests of the time of the conquest sleep in hallowed shrines. Long may the venerable well repose in its ruins, set in scenery as venerable in its associations, unspoiled by the jarring inconsistency of Prankish restorations, and hallowed by the memory of the Master v/ho rested once upon its brink ! INDEX TO DIVISION I. Abishua, Tomb of, 235. Abraham's Altar, Shechem, 235, 240. Absalom's Pillar, 83, 98. Abu Ghosh (Kuryetel 'Anab), 199, 200, 201. Abyssinians, 119, 176. Aceldama, 98, 110. Achor, 177, 180. Acrabi ('Akrabeh), 232. Acts xxi, 26, 43. 'Adasa, 218. Adiabene, 213. Adullam, Cave of, 142, 143, 145 —147, 204. Ai, 160, 179, 1S2, 185, 187, 212, 222. 'Am Duk, 171, 176, 181, 1S4. 'Ain Hajla, 162. 'Ain el Haramlyeh (Robbero' Spring), 225, 227. 'Ain Karim, 202 — 208. Church and Monastery of £t. John, 205, 209. 'Ain Sinia (Jeshanah), 223, 224. 'Ain es Sultan, Elisha's Fountain, 160, 170 — 172, 176. Ajalon(Yalo) 184, 195, 197. Aksa, El, Mosque, 6, 65 — 72, 75. Fagade of, 61. Alexander the Great, 214. 'Alnut (Alemeth), 212. 'Amwas, 197, 198. Anastasis, 14, 64, 74. Anathoth ('Anata), 200,210, 211. Anchorites, 130, 146 — 153, 176. Anne, Church of St., 46. Antipatris (Ras el 'Ain), 228, 232. Antonia, 39, 38, 42, 43. Anuath ('Aina), 232. Apostles' Cave, 98, 114. Aqueduct from Ain Duk, 176. Of the Unbelievers, u6. Aqueducts from Solomon's Pools, 42, 48, 68, 102, 106, 112 — 114, 122, 138 — 141. OverWady Kelt, 169, 174. Archulphus, Bishop, 14, 196. 'Armah, 203. Armenian Church of St. James, 12, 119. Monastery, 5, 6, 12, 102, 119. Arnon, 4, 154. Artas. See Urtas. Ascension, Church of the, 3, 4, 88, 90. Ashkenazi Jews, 26, 82, 118. 'Asker (Sychar), 236. Asneri, 213. 'Awertah (Gibeah Phinehas), 235. B.\AL Hazor, 212. Bab el Amud (Damascus Gate), 31, 40, 41, 212. Bab Wady 'Aly, 194, 200. Bahurim, 212. Balata, 235. Barclay's Gate, 39, 75, 80. Barracks, Turkish, 5, 6, 28, 29, 30, 42, 44. Basilica of Martyrion, 14. Battles of the Passes, 194. Bazaars of Jerusalem, 31 — 37. Beautiful Gate, 42, 70, 77. Beeroth (El Bi'reh), 189, 215 — 27:9. Beitin. See Bethel. Beit Jala; 126, 196. Beit Nuba, 197. Beit 'Ur el Foka (Upper Bethho- ron), 191, 197. Beit 'Ur et Tahta ( Lower Bethho- ron), 193, 197. Benjamm, hill country of, 181, 188, 192. Bethany, El 'Aziryeh, 89, 90. From Jerusalem to, 84—88. To Jerusalem from, 90 — 94. Bethel (Beitin), 160, 187, 196, 212. 217, 219-221. Ruins of church at, 219. Bethesda \ Birket Israil), 4, 45, 46, 52, 66, 109 — 112. Beth Hogla (Kasr Hajla), 157, 159, 162, 163. Bethhoron, 184, 190—197, 208. Beth Laban, 232. Bethlehem (Beit Lahm), 123 — 138, 196. Bethphage, 88, 89, 92. Ruins of Church, 89. Bethso, 81. Bezetha, 7. Bir Eyub (Job's Well), 2, 94, loi, 104, II ^, 117, 120. Bir ez Zeit, 223, 224. Birket Isiail. See Bethesda. Birket Mamilla, 102, loS, 122, 139. Birket Sitti Miriam, loS, 109. Birket es Sultan, 102, 106, loS, 113- Bishop Alexander, 11, 120. Barclay, 120. Gobat, II, 120. Boaz, field of, 132, 133. Borceos (Berkit), 232. Border towns of Samaria, 232. Bozez, 184. Burak, El, 39. Burak, El (Solomon's Pools), 138 —141. Castle of, 141. Burj Bardawil (Baldwin's Tower), 227. Buying and selhng, Jerusalem, 32, 37- C.^:SAREA Philippi, 155. Cafe, A Jerusalem, 33, 36. Caiaphas, house of, 12. Caliphs, Fatimite, 15. Callirrhoe, 144, 154, 155. Calvary, 23. Cave Adullam. See Adullam. Cave of the Cross, 19, 21, 23. Dreamers, 146. Sakhra, 60 — 62. Caverns of the Kings, 84. Caves in the cliffs of Kedron, 155. Valley of Hinnom, 114. Cells and chapels, Quarantania, 176. Cemeteries, Jewish, 82, 85, 95 — 100. Moslem, 4, 46, 67, 69, 89, 95, 102. Cemetery, Protestant, 94, 95. Chapel of Helena, Holy Sepulchre, 15, 19, 22, 23. Cherith, Brook. See Wady el Kelt. Chosroes, 148, 150, 170, 174. Christ Church, Jerusalem, 11, 102. Christian Villages, 224, 225, 228. Church of the Ascension, 3, 4, 88, 90. Holy Sepulchre, 14—28. Nativity, Bethlehem, 124 — 130. " Ciccar," 157, 160, 161. Cisterns, Jerusalem, 72, 73, 74, loi, 106 — 109. Cistern of Kasr el Yehud, 170. Citadel of Jerusalem, 6, 7 — 11, 105. Entrance to, 3. "Cities of the Plain," 157, 160, i6t, 176. Cloisters of the Temple, 76, 81. Coenaculum, 12. Convent of St. George, Wady Kelt, 175. Coptic Monastery, 17. Copts, 119, 176. Costume of Women of Bethlehem, 33, I33--I3S- Siloam, 32. Cotton-cleaning, 3^ 44. Cotton grotto. 84. Crusaders, 15, 42, 58, 62, 68, 128, 135, 170. Crusaders' churches and fortresses, 18, 135, 179, 187, 195, 201, 215,225, 226. Crusading topography, 206, 235. Damascus Gate, Jerusalem, 6, 31, 41, 212. Street of the, 40, 71. David Street, 9, 34. David's Tomb (Neby Daud), 11, 12, 100. Tower, 7 — 11. Well, 134. Dead Sea (Bahr Lut), 4, 137, 152 --159, 161. Depth of the, 156, 157. Formation of the, 155 — 157. Northern end of the, 154, 157, 159- Deir Diwan, 222. Deir el Kul'ah (Convent Castle), 226, 228. Destruction of Sodom and Go- morrah, 160. Dome of the Chain, 65. Dome of the Rock (Kubbet es Sakhra), 6, 53 — 65, 214. Gates of the, 54. Interior of the, 54 — 64. Origin of the, 64. Platform of the, 49, 63, 65. Ebal (Jebal Sit Eslamiyeh), 236, 238, 239. Ecce Homo Arch, 24, 29. Ekron, 204. Elah, Valley of (Wady es Sunt), 142, 193. 194, 204. Eleasa (11 asa), 197. Eleutheropolis, 204. Elisha's Fountain. See ^Ain es Sultan. Emmaus, 197. Hammath, ig8. Nicopolis, ig8, 200. Of St. Luke's Gospel, 199, 200, 204. Engedi (Ain Jedy), 154, 155. En Rogel, 112. Ephraim, Mountains of, 184, 228. Ephron, 212. Etham, 138. Excavations at Jerusalem, 46, 47, 50, 51- Fauna of the Plains of Jericho, 164, 165. Wady Nar (Kedron Valley), 153, 154- Field of Blood. See Aceldama. The Crusaders, 99. The Strong Men, 191. Flora of the Hills of Bethlehem, 123. Flora of the Plains of Jericho, 164, 167, 171, 175. Foundation stones, Jerusalem, 46, 47. 50, 51- Fountain of the Cup (El Kas), 74, 80. Fountain of the Gate of the Chain, 42, 48. Fountain of the Virgin, 102, 104, 112. Frank Mountain (Jebel Fureidis), 137, 141—144- French restoration of the church of St. Anne, 46. Fresco, the Raising of Lazarus, £8. Fruit market, Jerusalem, 32, 37. Funeral service ( Kubbet es Sakhra), 46. Galilee, Sea of, 150. Gardens of Solomon, 138. Gate of the Chain ( Bab es Silsileh ), 6, 42, 45, 81. Of the Cotton Merchants (Bab Kattanin), 42. Damascus (Bab el Amud), 6, 31, 40, 41, 212. Of David (Bab Neby Daiid), 10, 12. Double, 68, 76, 80, 81. Dung, 6, 81, 82. Golden, 2, 6, 46, 57, 69, 70. Of Muhammed. See Barclay's Gate. Of St. Stephen (Bab Sitti Miriam), 6, 46, 80. Jaffa (Bab el Khulil), i, 6, 7, 81, 102, 122. Zion (Bab Neby Daud\ 10, 12. Gates of the Inner Temple, 76, 77- Gath, 142, 200, 204. Geba (Jeba), 183, 184, 185, 187, 196, 212. Geological formation of the bed of the Dead Sea, 155, 157. Mountains of Judaa, 194. Valley of the Jordan, 156. Georgians, 12, 119. Gerizim, 228, 234, 239. Ruins on, 234. Sacred tombs, 233. German buildings on the site of Hospice St. John, 29. Gethsemane, 86, 88, 98. Ghor, El (Jordan Valley), 157, 169. Gibeah of Benjamin, 217. Gibeah of Saul, 184. Gibeah Phinehas ('Awertah), 235, 238. Gibeon (El Jib), 182, 189, 190, 196. Pool of, 191. Gihon, 112, 113. Lower pool, 102, 108, 109, 122. Upper pool, 102, 108, 122, 139. Gilead, Mount, 4, 212. Gilgal (Tel Jiljul), 157, 171. Golden Gate, 2, 6, 46, 57, 69, 70. Golgotha, Church of, 15. Goliath's Castle (Kalat Julud), 6, 80. Gomorrah. See Sodom. Greek Church, 20, 119. Greek monastery, 14, 15, 17. Grocer's shop, Jerusalem, 32, 36. Grotto of St. Anne, 46. Jeremiah, 84, 97. St. Jerome, 129, 130, 213. Haiyan, ruins of, 222. HalhCil, 195. Haram esh Sherif, 6, 37—74- Hareth (Kefr Kharas), forest of, 195- Harvest time, 132. Helena, Chapel of St., Jerusalem, 15, 19, 22, 23. Helena, Church built by St., Bethlehem, 126. Hermit life in Palestine, 130, 146—153- 176- 240 INDEX. Hermits' caves, Kedron Valley, 155- In Wady Beit Hanina, 203. Herod's Palace, 7, 41. Temple, 39, 43, 68, 74 — 80. Herodium. See Frank Mountain. Hezekiah's Pool, 8, 12, 13, 109, 122. Hill of Evil Council, 73, tig, 122. Hinnom, Valley of, 2, 98, 99, loi, 102, 107, III, 113, 114, 115, T17. Hippicus, Tower of, 7, 10, 11, 81, 105. Holy Fire, 20, 22 — 28. Holy Sepulchre, Church of the, 14—28. Entrance to the Church of the, 15-18. Shrine of the, 17, 18. Theories respecting the, 14. Hospice of the Knights Templars, 29- 35- House of Caiaphas, 12. Dives, 26, 29. Lazarus, 26, 29. Veronica, 25, 29. Hozmeh (Azmaveth), 212. Im.\m 'Aly, shrine of, 200. Inscription from Herod's Temple, 43- 76. Dome of the Rock, 56, 58. Templum Domini, 64. Jacob's Well, 230, 235 — 240. Jacobites, 119. Jaf^a Gate, 1, 6, 7, 81, 102, 122. Jeba. See Geba. Jehoshaphat, tomb of, 82, 97. Valley of, 82, 83, 97. Jeremiah's Grotto, 84, 97, 213. Church of, 199, 201. Jericho, ancient, 170, 171. Herodian, 170, 174. Jericho (Er Riha), modern, 166, 168, 170, 174, 175. Jericho of the Crusaders, 168, 170. Jerome, St., 129, 130, 164, 169, 178, 232. Grotto of St., 129, 130. Jewish cemeteries, 82, 85, 95 — 100. Jews of Jerusalem, 118. Wailing-place of the, 43. Jib, El (Gibeonof Benjamin), 1S2, 189, 190, 191, 196. Wady, 223, 224. Jiljul. See Gilgal. Jiljulieh, 172. Job's Well (Bir Eyub), 2, 94, loi, 104, 113, 117, 120, 121. John iii. 23, 240. Jordan, 155 — 167, 212. Source of the, 155. Joseph's Tomb, 231, 233, 236, 238, 240. Joshua's spies, 171. Joshua's Tomb (Kefr Haris), 233. Jufna (Gophna), 179, 223, 224. Justin Martyr, 125. Justinian's buildings, Jerusalem, 47, 65. Restorations, Bethlehem, 126. Kanah, Wady, 229. Kasr Hajla (Beth Hogla), 157, 159, 162, 163. El Yehud, 163, 168, 170. Kastal, 196. Kedron, Valley of, 2, 82, 86, 87, 101, 117, 148. Kefr Haris (Tinmath Heres), 233. Keilah, 204. Kelt, El. See Wady el Kelt. Keruthim (Kerlut), 232. Khamasa, 200. Khan of the oil merchants, 37, 71. Khureitun, caverns at, 142, 147. King's Mountain, the, 194, 209. Kirjath of Benjamin, 199, 200. Jearim, 195, 201. Knights Templars, 6, 29, 31, 38. Kolonia, Valley of, 196. Village of, 201, 202, 203, 204. Kubbet es Sakhra. See Dome of the Rock. Kuryet el 'Anab. See Abu Ghosli. Latin community, Jerusalem, 119. Latron, 195, 197, 201. Lebonah. See Lubban. Lentisk, or mastic, 195. Lifta, 2q8. Lisan, El, 154, 156. Lubban, 226, 232. Wady, 228. Luz, 220. Maccabees, the, iSi, 194, 197, 201, 218. Makom (Mukam), 220, 235. Mangers, Palestine, 125, 129. Manuscripts found at Mar Saba, 149. Maon, 146. Mar Elyas, Convent of, 122, T69. Market-places, Jerusalem, i, 12, 31—34. 37, 40- Mar Saba, Convent of, 147 — 153, 158. Martyrion, the Great Basilica, 14. Mason's marks, 47. Masonic hall, 41. Masonry, ancient, 6, 8, 38, 42, 46, 47, 50, 51, 72, 115, 116. Massacre at Mar Saba, 148. Merom (Huleh), 156. Michmash (Mukmas\ 181,183, 184, 185, 212. Milk Grotto, Bethlehem, 130, 135. Mill-stones, 136. Mispeh. See Neby Samivil. Moab Mountains, 4, 9, 122, 130, 137, 152, 154, 188. Moat of the Citadel, Jerusalem, 1, 5- Monasteries destroyed by Chos- roes, 170. Monasteries in the Plain of the Jordan, 168 — 179. Monastic rules at Mar Saba, 151. Mons Offensionis, 94, 107. Montefiore's buildings. Sir M., 122. Moreh, 235. Mosaics, Dome of the Rock, 58, 66. Church at Bethlehem, 127. Mosque of Omar, 68. Of the Pillar, 235. Mount of Olives, 3, 8, 9, 57, 75, 85, 88, go, 91, 99. Mountain warfare, 184, 209. Mountains of Judaea, 194 — 196. Mozah (Beit Mizzehi, 204. Muhammedan cemeteries, 4, 46, 67, 69, 89, 95, 102. Mukatir, 222. Mukhnah Plain, 233, 237, 240. Nablus (Shecliem), 239, 240. Nativity, Church of the, 122, 124 —130. Place of the, 125, 128. Nebo, 161, 212. Neby Daud, 11, 12. Neby Samwil (Mizpeh), 4, 91, 182, 186, 188, 189, 190, 208. Nephotah (Lifta), 208. Nicopolis, 198, 200. Nob, 182, 213, 215. Oak-trees, 195, 233, 235, 240. Olive-trees, 121, 223. Olivet. See Mount of Olives. Omar, 170. Minaret of, 35. Mosque of, 68. Pulpit of, 66. Ophrali, 184, 222. Oratories, Haram Enclosure, 53, 70. Palmers, 136. Palm-trees, 137, 171. Palm-tree of Saint Saba, 148, 153. Passes of Benjamin, 182. Paula, Sta., 232, 236. Phasaelus, 5, 7 — 11. Philip's Fountain, 207, 210. Philistia, 196. Phinehas, Tomb of, 235, 238. Pilgrimages to the Jordan, 162, 165—167. Holy Sepulchre, 23, 28. Tomb of Moses, 31. Pilgrims in Jerusalem, 14, 22, 31, 32- Pool of Moses, 174. Population of Jerusalem, 118 — 120. Prsetorium, 28. Protestant community, Jerusalem, 119, 120. Psephinus, Tower of, 6, 80. QUARANTANIA, 141, 171, 173, 176, 178— 181. Birds of, 176. Cells and chapels of, 176, 178. Quarries, Jerusalem, 80, 84, 96. Rachel's Tomb, 122, 123, 126. Rainfall, Jerusalem, 101. Ramah of Benjamin (Er Ram), 182, 189, 196, 214, 218. Ras Sherifeh, 214. Rephaim, Valley of, 122. Rimmon, the Rock, 189, 222. Robinson's Arch, 38, 41, 72, 75, 80. Roman Catholic community, Jeru- salem, iig. Rosary and relic m.akers, 16, 133, 137, 138. Rose of Sharon, 208. Roses, Valley of (Wady el Werd), 208. Russian buildings, Jerusalem, 6, 214. Ruth, 132, 133. Safieh, 155. Sakhra, the, 60 — 62. Saladin, 15. Salem (Salim >, 237, 240. Samaria, 233. Samaritan border towns, 232. Samaritans, 235, 236. Kibleh of the, 240. Sarina, Spring of, 235. Sawieh, 228, 232, 233. Scene of Christ weeping over Jeru- salem, 94. David's flight, 145, 146, 204. Scopus, 4, 63, 67, 215. Sealed fountain, 116, 139. Sebil Kait Bay, 53, 70. Seneh, 184, 217. Sennacherib, 185. Sepulchre of Christ, 14, iS — 20, 64, 100. Sha'afat (Nob), 213, 215, 216 Shalem, 240. Sharon, Plain of, 196. Shechem, 220, 232, 239, 240. Shephelah, 194. Shiloh, 225, 226, 229, 230 — 232. Shittim, 161. Shoemakers, Jerusalem, 27, 34. Siloah, 112. Siloam (Silwan), 83, 85, 94, 104,115. Pools of, 77, 79, 103, 108. Sinjil (Saint Gilles), 228, 229. Soba, 196, 198, 201, 203. Sodom and Gomorrah, 157 160, 161. Solomon's Palace, 69. Pools, 48, 113, 138, 139, 141, 145. Stables, 49, 69. Sorek, 204. Stoa Basilica, 39, 75. Stone of Destiny, 221. Streets of Jerusalem, 6, 7, 9, 12, 34, 40. Subterranean passages, 41, 42, 49. Summer pulpit of the Haram, 49, 65. Sychar ('Askar), 236, 237, Tablet of Herod's Temple, 43, 76. Taiyibeh, 222, 224. Taleil el Ful, 184, 188, 208, 213, 216, 218. • Tekoa (Tekua), 141. Tell 'Asur, 2j2. Tell es Safy, 204. Temple of Gerizim, 234, 238. Herod, 2, 39, 43, 68, 74—80. Templum Domini, 44, 58, 62, 64. Terebinth-trees, 195, 204. Terrace cultivation, 73. Theories respecting the site of the Cities of the Plain, 160, 161. Sepulchre, 14, 20, 64, 100. Temple and Altar, 74, 77, 80. Threshing-floor, 132, 201, 237. Tomb of Caleb, 233. David, II, 12, 100. Eleazar, 233, 235. Eli and his Sons, 230. James, St., 82, 85, 97. Jerome, 129. Joseph, 231, 233, 236, 240. Joseph of Arimalhea, 100. Joshua, 233. Ithamar, 233, 235. Lazarus, 89. Nun, 233. Phinehas, 235. The Virgin, 86, 87. Tombs, description of various kinds of, 95 — lOI, 146. Tombs of the Judges, 96, 103. Kings, 96, 103. Prophets, 98. Valley of Hinnom, 98, 99, 105, 106, III, 114. Tophet, 115. Tower of David, 5, 7 — 11. Trees, sacred, 235. Turks, 118. Tyroptjean, 2, 4, 6, 7, 39, 72, 104, 112, 113. Urtas, 138, 140. Usdum, 156, 160, 224. Veils, 133. Via Dolorosa, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29. Vine culture, 196, 224. Virgin's Fountain, 102, 104, 114. Wady el Askur (Soldiers), 191. Beit Hanina, 201 — 208. Byar, 114. El Joz (Nuts), 213. El Kelt (Cherith), 169, 175, 176, 179, 180, 210, 211. Suleiman, 197. Suweinit, 183, 184. El Werd (Roses), 207, 208. Wailing-place, 41, 43. Walls of Jerusalem, 6, 12, 73, 75, 80, 89, 93, 102, 115, 117. Ancient, Si, 84. Warren's Gate, 42, 75. Watch-towers, 195. Water supply, Jerusalem, loi— 118. For Temple service, 72 — 74. Well of David, 124, 134. The Leaf, 68. Zacharias and Elizabeth, 207. Wilderness of St. John, 205, 206. Judsea, 2, 122. Wilson's Arch, 42, 74, So, 113. Woman of Samaria, 236. Women grinding corn, 127. Of Bethlehem, 33, 127, 133, 134, 135, 136. Of Siloam, 32. Yafa (Jaffa), road to, 195. Zacharlah, Tomb of, 82, 98. Zeboim. 161, 184. Ziph (Zif), 145. Zoar, 160, 161. Zoreah (Sur'ah), 204. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. MAR 111^:/ JAN 4 19e^ SEP 2 ^ ll ^ 41584 JrtlV. Of. CALIF. LIBRA»y. lOS XN^Oi 3 1158"0015V'5641