384 SKETCHES OF PALESTINE. 



ulchre, is the finest in Syria, and contains two tolerable good or- 

 gans. Within the walls of the convent are two gardens, and a 

 small burying-ground : the walls are very thick, and serve occa- 

 sionally as a fortress to all the Christians in the town. There are 

 at present eleven friars in the convent ; they are chiefly Spaniards. 

 The yearly expenses of the establishment are stated to amount 

 to upwards of 900/., a small part of which is defrayed by the rent of 

 a few houses in the town, and by the produce of some acres of 

 corn-land : the rest is remitted from Jerusalem. The whole annu- 

 al expenses of the Terra Santa con vents are about 15,OOOJ., of which 

 the Pasha of Damascus receives about I2,000/. The Greek con- 

 vent of Jerusalem, according to JBurckhardt's authority, pays much 

 more, as well to maintain its own privileges, as with a view to en- 

 croach upon those of the Latins. 



MOUNT TABOR. 



Mount Tabor, having been pitched upon as the scene of the 

 Transfiguration, ranks among the sacred places to which pilgrims 

 repair from Nazareth. It is minutely described by both Pococks 

 and Maundrell. 



The road from Nazareth lies for two hours between low hills ; it 

 then opens into the Plain of Esdraelon. At about two or three 

 furlongs within the plain, and six miles from Nazareth, rises this 

 singular mount, which is almost entirely insulated, its figure repre- 

 senting a half-sphere.' ' It is,' says Pococke, ' one of the finest hills 

 I ever beheld, being a rich soil that produces excellent herbage, 

 and is most beautifully adorned with groves and clumps of trees. 

 The ascent is so easy, that we rode up the north side by a winding 

 road. Some authors mention it as near four miles high, others as 

 about two : the latter may be true, as to the winding ascent up the 

 hill. The top of it, which is about half a mile long, and near a 

 quarter of a mile broad, is encompassed with a wall, which Jose- 

 phus built in forty days : there was also a wall along the middle of 

 it, which divided the south part, on which the city stood, from the 

 north part, which is lower, and is called the meidan, or place, being 

 probably used for exercises when there was a city here, which 

 Josephus mentions by the name of Ataburion. Within the outer 

 wall on the north side, are several deep fosses, out of which, it is 

 probable, the stones were dug to build the walls; and these losses 

 seem to have answered the end of cisterns, to preserve the rain- 

 water, and were also some defence to the city. There are like- 

 wise a great number of cisterns under ground, for preserving the 

 rain-water. To the south, where the ascent was most easy, there 

 are fosses cut on the outside, to render the access to the walls more 

 difficult. Some of the gates also of the city remain : as the gate 

 of the winds, to the west ; and the arched gate, a small one to the 

 south. Antiochus, King of Syria, took the fortress on the top of 

 his hill. Vespasian also got possession of it ; and after that, Jose- 



