JERUSALEM TO BETHLEHEM. 399 
west ; the most conspicuous object being the ^^J^^- 
Monastery, erected over the Cave of the Nativity, '- y' ' 
in the suburbs and upon the eastern side. 
The battlements and walls of this building 
seemed like those of a vast fortress. The 
Dead Sea below, upon our left, appeared so Prospect 
near to us, that we thought we coald have neadsea- 
rode thither in a very short space of time. 
Still nearer stood a mountain upon its western 
shore, resembling, in its form, the cone of Vesu- 
vius, and having also a crater upon its top, which 
was plainly discernible. The distance, however, 
is much greater than it appears to be; the 
magnitude of the objects beheld in this fine 
prospect causing them to appear less remote 
than they really are^ The atmosphere was 
remarkably clear and serene ; but we saw none 
of those clouds of smoke which, by some wri- 
ters, are said to exhale from the surface of Lake 
jisphahites, nor from any neighbouring mountain. 
Every thing about it was, in the highest degree, 
grand and awful. Its desolate, although majestic 
(2) It is pleasing to confirm, by actual observation, the strong 
internal evidences of the genuineness of Sandys' narrative. These 
were his remarks upon the same spot : " From this ridge of hils, the 
Dead Sea doth appearc as if necrc at hand : but not so found by the 
traveller; for that those high declining mountaines are not to be 
directly descended." Sandys' Travels, p. llQ. Lond. 1637. 
