JERUSALEM. 
7l3 
streets, and those few regard him and each other with anxious suspi- 
cion. He may sometimes hear the plaintive bleating of a lamb, as it 
struggles under the hands of a pale meagre wretch who is slaughter- 
ing it. He meets with one, more suspicious and observant than the 
rest. Something is concealed under his garments. The man ap- 
proaches ; he is a Jew : the treasure he has so carefully concealed 
is a hard-earned meal, which he fears to call his own till he has eaten 
it. The traveller is surprised at the sound of horse-tramplings : a 
horseman flies past him, bearing a head newly severed from the body. 
It is a Turk with the head of an Arab. Such is now Jerusalem ; and 
the traveller leaves it, deeply impressed with the awful veracity of 
divine truth. 
Of this once favoured, but now devoted city, Mr. Came, a traveller 
who has lately visited it, thus speaks. 
“ By moonlight next morning, we were on the way to the sacred city. 
For about three hours it led over the plain, and then ascending the hills, 
the road became very disagreeable, in some parts so narrow that one 
horse only could proceed at a time with safety, as the rains had made 
the rocky paths much worse than usual. At the end of nine hours, 
however, as we proceeded over the summit of a rugged hill, we beheld 
Jerusalem at a small distance before us. Its aspect certainly was not 
magnificent or inspiring, but sad and dreary. 
** On reaching the gate of Bethlehem, we were speedily admitted, and 
after some time procured a lodging in the house of a native, not far 
from the walls, and near the tower of David. We had enough of 
convents, and a traveller will find himself much more agreeably situ- 
ated, and more at ease, in living Orientally, than confined within the 
wails, and obliged to conform to the hours, of a monastery. I had 
my divan and coffee, excellent wine, and music in the evening, and 
wished only to remain in peace ; hut in a day or two repeated mes- 
sages came from the superior of the convent, urging my entering into 
it, it being unusual for a traveller to lodge without, and in these times 
exceedingly unsafe. Arriving at the convent, they put me into a little 
cold cell, with a single chair and table in it, and a small flock-bed, as 
if I had pome to perform a pilgrimage ; and the pictures of saints 
and martyrs on the walls, were but poor consolations for the substan- 
tial comforts I bad lost. 
** The morning after my arrival was a very lovely one, and, though 
it was in February, perfectly warm. I passed out of the gate of 
Bethlehem, and, traversing part of the ravine beneath, ascended the 
mount of Judgment on the south side of the city. How interesting 
was her aspect, beheld over the deep and rocky valley of Hinnom I 
her gloomy walls encompassing Mount Zion on every side, and as yet 
there was no sound to disturb the silence of the scene. The beautiful 
Mount of Olives was on the right,, and at its feet the Valley of Jeho- 
shaphat, amidst whose great rocks and trees stood the tomb of Zerha- 
rias, the last of the prophets that was slain : the only stream visible 
flowed from the fountain of Siloam, on the side of Zion opposite. It 
is true, the city beloved of God has disappeared, and with it all the 
hallowed spots once contained within its walls, and keen must he 
the faith that can now embrace their identity ; yet the face of nature 
4 X 
