324 
THE HOLY LAND. 
CHAP. 
VIT. 
Inference 
derived 
from the 
discovery. 
The sepulchres we are now describing bear, in 
their very nature, a satisfactory proof of their 
being situate out of the antient city, as they are 
now out of the modern. They are not to be con- 
founded with those tomhs, commonly called " the 
Sepulchres of the Kings," to the 7iorth of JerusalerUj 
believed to be the burial-place of Helena, queen 
oi Adiehene. Some of them, from their magnifi- 
cence, and the immense labour necessary to 
form the numerous repositories they contain, 
might lay claim to regal honours ; and there is 
one which appears to have been constructed for 
the purpose of inhuming a single indi\Tidual. The 
Karaites, of all other Jews the most tenacious in 
adhering to the customs of their ancestors, have, 
from time immemorial, been in the practice of 
bringing their dead to this place for interment ; 
although this fact were not wanted to prove it 
an antient Jewish coemetery, as will appear in 
the sequel. The sepulchres themselves, accord- 
ing to the antient custom, are stationed in the 
midst of gardens. From all these circumstances 
are we not authorised to look here for the Sepul- 
chre oi Joseph oi Arimathea, who, as a pious Jew, 
necessarily had his burying-place in the coeme- 
tery of his countrymen, among the graves 
of his forefathers? The Jeivs are remfrrkable 
for their rigid adherence to this custom : they 
