o^^. Geographical Ohfervations 



dary of theLandofik/o^^,ourProfpe6l is interrupted by an ex- 

 ceeding high Ridge of defolate Mountains, no other wife diver- 

 fifyed than by a Succeflion ot naked Rocks and Precipices, ren- 

 dred in feveral Places more frightful, by a multiplicity of Tor- 

 rents which fall on each Side of them. This Ridge is continued all 

 along the eaftern Coaft of the 'Dead Sea, as far as our Eye can 

 condudl us, affording, all the way, a moft lonefome melancholy 

 Profpe6t, not a httle alfifted by the intermediate View of a 

 large ftagnating unaftive Expanfe of Water, rarely if ever en- 

 livened by any Flocks oF Birds that fettle upon it, or by fo much 

 as one Velfel of Pallage or Commerce that is known to frequent 

 it. Such is the general Plan of that Part of the HolyLatid which 

 fell under my Obfervation. 



Jjemiafem'' 77jf Hills which ftatid YOund ahout Jerufalem, make it ap- 

 pear to be fituated, as it were, in an Amphitheatre, who^Q^rena 

 inclineth to the Eaftward. We have no where, that I know 

 of, any diftantView of It. That from the Mount oiO lives, which 

 is the beft, and perhaps the fartheft, is notwithftanding at fofmall 

 a Diftance, that, when our Saviour was there, he might be 

 faid, almoft in a literal Senfe, to have ofept over It. There 

 are very few Remains of the City, either as it was in our 

 Saviour s Time, or as it was afterwards rebuilt by Hadrian ♦ 

 jcarce one Stone being left upon another, which hath not been 

 thrown down. Even the very Situation is altered. For Mount 

 Sion, the moft eminent Part of the Old Jerufalem is now ex- 

 cluded, and It's Ditches filled up ; whilll the Places adjoyning 

 to Mount Calvary, where Chrift is faid to hiVQ fuffered with- 

 out the Gate, are now almoft in the Centre of It. 



A TrAditwn Yet uotwithftandiuE thefe Changes and Revolutions, it is 



kept vp of the 



remarkable highly probable that a faithful Tradition hath always been 

 preferved of the feveral Places that were confecrated, as it 

 were, by feme remarkable Tranfadlion relating to our Saviour 

 and his Apoftles. For it cannot be doubted, but that among 

 others. Mount Calvary and the Cave where Our Saviour was 

 buried, were well known to his Difciples and Followers : and 

 not only fo, but that fome Marks likewife of Reverence and 

 Devotion were paid to them. Thefe, no lefs than the Grotto at 

 Bethlehem, where Our Saviour is fuppofed to have been born, 

 were fo well known in the Time oi Hadrian ', that out of Hatred 



T Ah Hadr'iani temporibus ufque adimpcrium Conftatittni, per annos circiter centum oclo- 



gima, 



