376 
THE HOLY LAND. 
CHAP. 
VIII. 
y , 
Barars. 
of the lower stories, and those above are 
latticed, the passage seems to be between 
blank walls. We visited the bazars, or shops; 
which are in a most unwholesome situation, 
being covered over, and, to all appearance, a 
nursery for every species of contagion. Hardly 
any thing was exposed for sale : the various 
articles of commerce were secreted, through 
fear of Turkish rapacity. Our inquiry after 
medals was not attended with any success ; but 
an Armenian produced a very fine antique gem,, 
a carnelian deeply cut, representing a beautiful 
female head decorated with a laurel chaplet. 
He asked a piastre for it, smiling at the same 
time, as if he thought it not worth a para. 
Upon being paid his demand, he threw down 
the gem, eagerly seizing the mohey, and burst 
into an immoderate fit of laughter. After 
leaving the bazars, we visited the ruin which is 
called by the Monks the remains of the Judgment- 
seat of Pontius Pilate. It is part of a contemp- 
tible modern building. But here the author 
found, upon the very spot which is called the 
"^ JudgmeJit-seat,'' a curious undescribed her- 
baceous plant, of the natural order of Boraginece\ 
(1) It has the habit of a Lycopsis, but the flowers of a Symphytum, 
and seeds attached nearly as in Cynoglossum; but the form is peculiar 
to itself. The fruits of the order not having been yet thoroughly exa- 
mined, we have for the present arrangeditin Symphytum; denominating 
it. 
