SKETCHES OF PALESTINE. 369 



low us Christian burial?' The Greeks spent the night in firing 

 pistols and rejoicing ; and were fined by the cadi next morning for 

 disturbing his repose. 



The fathers of the Latin convent annually perform the cruci- 

 fixion. Maundrell, who was present on one occasion, has given a 

 particular description of the dramatic ceremonies. 



It is impossible to calculate the extent of the evil resulting from 

 this pernicious mummery, in its two-fold character of a delusion 

 on the minds of the pilgrims, and a stumbling-block in the way of 

 tho conversion of the Mahommedans. in the year 1820, upwards 

 of 3000 pilgrims visited the Holy City. They consisted of Greeks 

 from Russia, Turkey, and Asia Minor, Armenians, chiefly from 

 Anatolia, Copts, Syrians, and about fifty Roman Catholics from 

 Damascus. Very few of them were able to read, and scarcely one 

 had seen a copy of the Scriptures. The true character of their 

 religion may be "judged of from the fact that the chief objects of 

 the Greek pilgrims are, to obtain candles touched with the sacred 

 fire, under the idea that, if burned at a person's funeral, they will 

 assuredly save his soul from punishment ; and to bathe themselves, 

 and dip their linen in the Jordan, bringing these clothes back to be 

 carefully preserved for their winding-sheet. 'If this be not hea- 

 thenism,' it has been remarked, 'what is Christianity?' Every 

 friend of his species must devoutly wish that all the murky dens 

 and grottoes of superstition, which profane and infest the once 

 sacred city, were laid open to the day, and the whole system of 

 scandalous imposture finally abolished. 



The only genuine objects of interest in the Church of the Sepul- 

 chre were the tombs of Godfrey of Bouillon and his brother 

 Baldwin : they are described by Chateaubriand as two stone coffins, 

 supported by four little pillars, with Latin epitaphs in Gothic char- 

 acter. They had nothing to recommend them but their antiquity. 

 Mr. Buckingham states, that they have been spitefully destroyed by 

 ihe Greeks, so that not a vestige of them remains. 



The reader must have had more than enough of the suppbsiti- 

 tious sacred places, and it cannot be necessary to particularize the 

 absurd legions which affect to point out the precise spot on which 

 every circumstance in the evangelical narrative occurred, down to 

 the window out of which Dives looked upon Lazarus, and the 

 place where Peter's cock crew. Whatever objects of antiquarian 

 interest Jerusalem may yet contain, remain to be brought to light 

 by excavation, which, under present circumstances, is impractica- 

 ble. By far the most interesting objects within the city are 



THE JEWS. 



The Jews reside chiefly on the edge of Mount Zion, and in the 

 lower part of the city, near the shambles, which, in summer, are 

 dreadfully offensive. Here, again, we shall avail ourselves of the 

 account given of the present condition of the Jews of Jerusalem 



