730 



JERUSALEM. 



Jerusalem, mean shops display nothing but misery to the sight ; 



S- *Y*' and they are frequently shut up from the dread of a 

 cadi passing near them. No one appears in the streets 

 no one stands at the gates of the city. Sometimes 

 only a peasant glides along in the shade concealing the 

 fruit of his labour under his vestments, in the ap- 

 prehension that a soldier may despoil him of it. All 

 the noise which is heard in the city is the galloping of 

 a horse in the desert bearing a janisary out on his way 

 to pillage, or carrying him home with the head of a 

 Bedouin Arab." Jerusalem is abundantly supplied with 

 game: provisions of all kinds are cheap, and the wine 

 is good. The shops and markets are, in the ordinary 

 streets, not restricted to a separate bazar, as is usual 

 . elsewhere. 



Pilgrims. Independent of the stationary inhabitants and the 



other subjects of the Turkish government, Jerusalem 

 is a great resort of pilgrims, among whom were many 

 Europeans in former times. But though the zeal for 

 pilgrimage has greatly declined, yet it is still very consi- 

 derable. In 1806', the number amounted to 1500, which 

 was thought small ; but there were only two Europe- 

 ans, of whom one was a traveller. It has been believed 

 that the visits of Catholic pilgrims were the source of 

 great riches to the convents of Jerusalem a point dis- 

 puted by Chateaubriand, who quotes various instances 

 to confute the assertion. The city swarms with men- 

 dicants, allured thither in expectation of alms from the 

 pilgrims. 



Public Jerusalem has a governor, who lives in state, and re- 



cfficers. ceives strangers in a dignified manner ; a cadi, or civil 

 judge, who is sent annually from Constantinople ; a 

 governor of the citadel ; a sheik el haram, or chief of the 

 Mahometan temple ; and a mufti, or chief of the law. 



Edifices. This city is particularly interesting to Europeans, in 



having been the capital of a people from whom all their 

 religious opinions are derived, and from being the thea- 

 tre of some events, which not only excited great sen- 

 sation at the time, but have been carefully transmitted 

 to posterity. Its public edifices are still numerous : 

 the spots which are mentioned in Scripture in the en- 

 virons are yet pointed out with pious anxiety ; but it 

 must not be disguised, that some recent travellers, 

 leaning more to ancient history than the affirmation of 

 the moderns, begin to question the identity of the lo- 

 calities which have remained undisputed for ages. The 



Citadel. present citadel, which is supposed to occupy the site of 

 David's palace, is a Gothic edifice throughout, with inte- 

 rior courts, fosses, and covered ways. No cannon are 

 seen on its walls ; and in one deserted apartment, full 

 of old helmets, lie numbers of weapons resembling mus- 

 ket barrels, of which the use is now unknown. This 

 structure is also called the Pisan's Tower, having been 

 built, according to Doubdan, by the republic of Pisa, 

 when the Christians were in possession of the Holy 

 Land. But the religious edifices are more important 



Convents, and interesting. There are several convents of Chris- 

 tian monks, whose total number in 1807 amounted to 

 61 ; and of these no less than 43 were natives of Spain. 

 The Franciscan convent of St Salvador is a spacious 

 structure like a fortress, which, with all its convenien- 

 ces in relation to the usual accommodations of Pales- 

 tine, has been compared to " a sumptuous and well fur- 

 nished hotel, open to all comers who may be attracted 

 hither by curiosity or devotion. Meals are served up 

 in an apartment called the Pilgrim's Chamber, consist- 

 ing of sufficient variety, and adapted to every national 

 Uete. Even the beverage of tea is copiously supplied 



to the Dutch and English, and abundance of liqueurs Jerusalem- 

 may be obtained.'' All pilgrims are received here : on, """Y^"' 

 their arrival, they undergo some ceremonies, and the 

 feet of Europeans are washed by the superior of the 

 convent. They are lodged and supplied with whatever 

 they require, and conducted to every sanctified place; 

 but the duration of their residence is limited to a month. 

 It is common for persons of condition to make a pre- 

 sent to the convent on their departure, which, in Po 

 cocke's time, amounted to about 6 sterling. At pre- 

 sent, however, their table is apart from that of the fa- 

 thers: they bear their own expences, and the con- 

 vent derives no advantage from their residence. Only 

 the poor are gratuitously maintained. The funds of 

 the convent are ample, being the result of donations 

 from Catholics of all ranks, and especially Catholic 

 princes, either in money or in goods and merchandise. 

 But the monks were lately reduced to great distress from 

 the interruption of their European supplies by the war; 

 and they are also occasionally harassed by the exac- 

 tions of the Turkish officers. In eight years of the 

 present century, they were compelled to pay 40,000 

 piastres, or about 6'000. Nevertheless, they have ob- 

 tained the esteem of the people among whom they 

 dwell, by their excellent organization and the regula- 

 rity of their conduct. The Armenian convent is the 

 largest in Jerusalem. It is maintained in a degree of 

 splendour, attended with neatness, cleanliness, and 

 good order unexampled in Palestine. " Every thing 

 pertaining to it is oriental. The patriarch appears in 

 a flowing vest of silk instead of a monkish habit, and 

 all around him bears the character of eastern magni- 

 ficence. Fie receives his visitors in regal stateiiness, 

 sitting amidst clouds of incense, and regaling them 

 with all the luxuries of a Persian court. 1 ' 



The church of the Holy Sepulchre has been cele- Sepulchre 

 brated for ages as containing within its precincts a of tllristl 

 tomb believed to be that in which the body of Jesus 

 Christ was deposited. This structure stood on Mount 

 Calvary. It consisted of several churches united ; and, 

 besides the tomb, covered about twelve places con- 

 secrated as the scenes of remarkable transactions. The 

 tomb itself, a white marble sarcophagus of ordinary di- 

 mensions, occupies a subterraneous chamber highly de- 

 corated. Its sanctity, however, is denied by Mahome- 

 tans ; and the later travellers, though they rest their opi 

 nions on very different principles, have called its iden- 

 tity in question. The former deny its sanctity, be- 

 cause Christ ascended to heaven after imparting his 

 likeness to Judas, who was crucified in his stead ; and 

 the latter doubt its identity, because there is no evi- 

 dence that the tomb attracted any notice until cen- 

 turies subsequent to the event. Nay, they are disposed 

 to go much farther, and to question the identity of 

 all the localities pointed out as those of scripture, 

 partly because the topography of the moderns is incon- 

 sistent with ancient descriptions, and partly from the 

 cause above assigned, that such points were not de. 

 termined until the age of the Empress Helena, who 

 lived some centuries after the death of Christ. Under 

 this impression, the real sepulchre has been sought for 

 among the neighbouring catacombs of a hill facing 

 Mount Sion. The empress now named is said to have 

 founded the church of the Holy Sepulchre from the real 

 cross on which Christ suffered being discovered on the 

 spot; and the tomb was covered by a superb rotunda form- 

 ing one end of that structure, which has been lately de- 

 stroyed by fire. This conflagration is ascribed to the Ar 



