416 THE HOLY LAND. 
Upon this subject there does not seem to be 
the shghtest ground for scepticism; and the 
evidence afforded by such a writer as Jerome 
VIR IN SAECVLARIBVS VALDE ERVDITVS, IN 
DIVINIS SCRIPTVRIS INTER OMNES DOCTORES 
ERVDiTissiMvs", wiU bc dccmcd a sufficient 
authority for believing that the Monastery 
erected over the spot, and where he resided 
himself, does at this day point out the place of 
our Saviour's birth. The situation of the 
town upon the narrow ridge of a long and 
lofty hill, surrounded on all sides by valleys, 
is particularly described by the Abbot of lona, 
from the account given to him by Arculfus": 
and for a description of the interior of the 
Monastery, the Reader may be referred to the 
very recent publication of Mons. De Chdteaii- 
hriand^. He considers the church as of high 
(1) Tiithetti. in Script. Eccles. p. 25. 
(2) " Qua; civitas non tarn situ grandis, (sicuti nobis Arculfus re- 
tulit, qui earn frequentavit,) quam fauiii pricdicabilis per universaruni 
gentium ecclesiam diffamata, in dorso (tnontis) sita est angusto, undi- 
que ex onini parte vallibus circuindato. Quod utique terrse dorsum 
ab occidental! plagA. in orientalera partem quasi mille passibus porri- 
gitur. In cujus campestri planicie superiore, humilis sine turribus 
murus, in circuitu per ejusdem inonticuli extremitatis supercilium 
constructus, valliculis hinc et inde circumjacentibus supereminet : 
mediAque intercapedine intra inuros per longiorem tramitem habi- 
tacula civium sternuntur." ^damnani de Loc. Sanct. lib. ii. c, 1. Vid. 
AlahUlon. Acta Ord. Bened. Sccc. 3. L. Par. 167-. 
(3) See Travels in Greece, Egypt, and PaUcsline, vol. I. p. 392. 
Lmid. 1811. 
