296 THE HOLY LAND. 
CHAP, attempting to preserve, has either confused or 
annihilated the memorials it was anxious to 
render conspicuous. Viewing the havoc thus 
made, it may now be regretted that the Holy 
Land was ever rescued from the dominion of 
Saracens, who were far less barbarous than 
their conquerors. The absurdity, for example, 
of hewing the rocks of Judcea into shrines and 
chapels, and of disguising the face of Nature 
with painted domes and gilded marble cover- 
ings, by way of commemorating the scenes of 
our Saviour's life and death, is so evident and 
so lamentable, that even Sandys, with all his 
credulity, could not avoid a happy application 
of the reproof directed by the Roman Satyrist 
against a similar violation of the Egerian 
Fountain '. 
Visit to tiie We were conducted to the house of the 
Governor. . , . 
Governor, who received us in very great state ; 
offering his protection, and exhibiting the usual 
pomp of Turkish hospitality, in the number of 
(l) Juven. Sat. 3. Cantab. 1763- 
" In vallem ^geriae descendimus, et speluncas 
Dissimiles veris. Quanto prsestantius esset 
Numea aquiP, viridi si marine clauderet undas 
Herba, uec in^enuuni violarent marmora tophum I" 
See Sandys' Travels, p. 161. Land. 1637. 
