SKETCHES OF PALESTINE. 385 



]>hus fortified it with strong walls. But what has made it more 

 famous than any thing else, is the common opinion, from the time 

 of St. Jerome, that the transfiguration of our Saviour was on this 

 mountain. On the east part of the hill are the remains of a strong 

 castle ; and within the precinct of it is the grot, in which are three 

 altars in memory of the three tabernacles which St. Peter propos- 

 ed to build, and where the Latin fathers always celebrate on the 

 day of the Transfiguration. It is said, there was a magnificent 

 church built here by St. Helena, which was a cathedral when this 

 town was made a bishop's see. There was formerly a convent of 

 Benedictine monks here ; and, on another part of the hill, a 

 monastery of Basilians, where the Greeks have an altar, and per- 

 form their service on the festival of the Transfiguration. On the 

 side of the hill, they show a church in a grot, where they say 

 Christ charged his disciples not to tell what things they had seen 

 till he was glorified.' 



ROUTE TO NABLOUS AND TIBERIAS. 



For some hours after leaving Jerusalem, the route to the north 

 lies over a rugged and mountainous country, which, though sus- 

 ceptible of cultivation by being terraced, now presents an aspect of 

 frightful nakedness and sterility. The road, if it may be called 

 such, is rough and stony ; and no object of interest occurs before 

 the traveller arrives at Beer, which is three hours and a half (about 

 ten miles) from Jerusalem. The name of the place is derived 

 from its well, which Bar signifies. It seems, Dr. Richardson says, 

 to have been once a place of considerable consequence; and 

 Maundrell supposed it to be the Beer referred to, Judges ix. 21, to 

 which Jothurn fled from the revenge of Abimelech. 'It is suppos- 

 ed also,' he adds, 'to be the same with Michrna&h, 1 Sam. xiv. 5.' 

 But Reland, on the authority of Eusebitis, places Michmas near 

 Jerusalem, in the direction of Rama. Close to the well, which is 

 at the bottom of the declivity on which stands the village, are the 

 mouldering walls of a. ruined khan ; and on the summit of the hill, 

 two large arches still remain of a ruined convent Maundrell calls 

 it an old church, and says it was built by the empress Helena, in 

 commemoration of the Virgin's coming as far as this spot in quest 

 of the child Jesus, as related Luke x. 24 ! A little beyond Beer 

 two roads meet: that on the right conducts to Nablous. 'After 

 two hours' travelling along the same rocky path,' says Dr. Richard- 

 son, ' we passed the village of Einbroot, which is finely situated on 

 our left, on the top of a hill. The adjoining valley is well cultivat- 

 ed, and the sides of the hills are raised in terraces,*aud planted with 

 the olive, the vine, and the fig-tree. On approaching Einbroot, 

 the guide of the caravan called out for us to march in close order. 

 Here it was reported that we were in danger of being attacked by 

 banditti, and that the muskets were seen pointed at us over the 

 stones ; but upon the guide, who rode considerably in advance, 



