714 
MEDINA. 
still endures : the rocks, the mountains, lakes, and valleys, are 
unchanged, save that loneliness and wildness are now, where once 
W'ere luxury and every joy ; and though their glory is departed, a 
high and mournful beauty still rests on many of these silent and 
romantic scenes. Amidst them a stranger will ever delight to wander, 
for there his imagination can seldom be at fault. The naked moun- 
tain, the untrodden plain, and the voiceless shore, will kindle into 
life around him, and his every step be filled with those deeds through 
which guilt and sorrow passed away, and * life and immortality were 
brought to light.’ 
" This was the most desirable time of the year to be at Jerusalem, as 
the feast of Easter was about to commence, and many of the pilgrims 
had arrived. The streets of the city are narrow, and very ill paved, 
and the houses in general have a mean appearance. ' The bazaar is 
a very ordinary one. The Armenian quarter is the only agreeable part 
of the city : the convent, which stands near the gate of Zion, is very 
spacious and handsome, with a large garden attached to it, and it can 
furnish accommodations for eight hundred pilgrims within its walls; 
the poorer part lodging in out-houses and offices in the courts, while 
the richer find every luxury and comfort, for all the apartments in this 
convent are furnished in the Oriental manner. The wealthy pilgrims 
never fail to leave a handsome present, to the amount sometimes of 
several hundred pounds. If a pilgrim dies in the convent, all the 
property he has with him goes to the order. 
“ The lower division of the city towards the east, is chiefly occupied 
by the Jews : it is the dirtiest and most oftensive of all. But few 
passengers in general are met with in the streets, which have the 
aspect of fortresses where the convents are situated, from the height 
and strength of the walls the monks have thought necessary for 
their defence. Handsomely dressed persons are seldom seen, as the 
Jews and Christians rather study to preserve the appearance of 
poverty, that they may not excite the jealousy of the Turks. 
“The population of Jerusalem has been variously stated; but it 
can hardly exceed twenty thousand : ten thousand of these are Jew's, 
five thousand Christians, and the same number o^ Turks. The 
walls can w'ith ease be walked round on the outside in forty-fi\e 
minutes, as the extent is scarcely three miles.” — Carne’s Letters from 
the East, vol. i. p *296 — 30*2. 
Of this once splendid and glorious, but now almost desolated city, 
the annexed engraving exhibits the appearance from a distance. 
Medina. 
This renowned Mahomedan city, of which the following engraving 
exhibits the celebrated Mosque, stands in Arabia Felix, in the province 
of Hedsjas, about a day’s journey from Jambo on the Red sea. It is 
situated in a sandy plain, and is of moderate extent, and surrounded 
with indifferent walls. It belongs to the sheriffe of Mecca, but of late 
has been governed -by a sovereign of its own, of the family of Daric 
Berkad. Before the days of Mahomet it was called Jathreb, butw'as 
called Medined en Nebbi, the City of the Prophet, from (he period at 
which Mahomet, upon his expulsion from Mecca by the Koreishites, 
