RUINS OF JERUSALEM. 



thing by conjecture ; and even admitting, in certain instance*, 

 doubtful traces, which were perhaps casualties caused by injuries 

 the stone had sustained) having no reference to the legend. 



The words of the inscription are supposed to he Arabic, ex- 

 pressed in Hebrew and Phoenician characters. The arrow-headed 

 character occurs here, as in the inscriptions at TYlnu-ssus. 



All the face of this mountain, along the dingle, supposed to be 

 the Vale of Gi'hinnon, by Sandys, is marked by similar exc tv;i- 

 tions. Some of these, as may be seen by reference to a former 

 note, did not escape his searching rye ; although he neglected to 

 observe their inscriptions, probably from keepim; the beaten track 

 of pilgrims poing from Mount Sion to tht M< l urit of Olives, nd 

 r.ting to cross the valley in order to examine them n.ore 

 n'arly. The top of the mountain is covered >._v ruined walls and 

 the remains of sumptuous edifices: these he also noticed ; but be 

 does not even hint at their origin. Here again we are at a hiss for 

 intelligence: and future travellers will be aware of the immense 

 field of inquiry which so m.my undescribed remains belonging to 

 Jerusalem offer to their observation. If the foundations and 

 ruins as of a citadel may be traced all over this Miinence, the 

 probability is, that this was the real Mount Sion; that thr- Gehin. 

 non of Sandys, and of many other writers, was in fact the Valley 

 of AMlo, called Tyropocon by Joseph us. which separated Sion 

 from Mount Moriah, and extended ;>s far as the Fountain Siloa, 

 where it joined the Valley of Jehosaphat. The sepulchres will 

 tht-n appear to have been situated beneath the walls of the citadel, 

 as was the case in many antient cities. Such was the situation of 

 the Grecian sepulchres in thr Crimea, belonging to the ancient 

 city of Chersonesus, in the Minor Peninsula of the Heracleotaj. 

 The inscriptions already noticed seem to favour this position ; and 

 if hereafter it should ever be confirmed, the remarkable things 

 belonging to Mount Sion, of which Pococke says there are no 

 remains in the hill now bearing that appellation, will in fact be 

 found here. The Ga'rden of the Kings, near the Pool of Siloam, 

 wl. !< Manasseh and Amon, kings of Judah, were buried; (lie 

 cemetery of the kings of Jubah ; the traces and remains of Herod's 

 palaces, c.'.lli d after the names of Ca?sar and Agrippa ; together 

 with the other places mentioned by Nehemiah. All along the side 

 of this mountain, and in the rocks above the Valley of Jehosa. 

 pi. at, upon the eastern side of Jerusalem, as far as the sepulchrts 



