JERUSALEM. 327 
v£riisement, pasted upon a board, is suspended from the wall, 
giving notice, that “ no pilgrim shall be allowed to re¬ 
main in the convent longer than one month:” a suffi¬ 
cient time, certainly, for all purposes of devotion, rest, or cu¬ 
riosity. The Franciscans complain heavily of the exactions 
of the Turks, who make frequent and large demands upon 
them for money; but the fact of their being able to answer 
these demands, affords a proof of the wealth of the convent 
Sir Sidney Smith, during his visit to Jerusalem, rendered 
them essential service, by remonstrating with the Turkish go¬ 
vernor against one of these avamds, as they are called, and 
finally compelling him to withdraw the charge. The monks 
assured us, that the English, although protestants, are the best 
friends the Catholics have in Jerusalem, and the most effect¬ 
ual guardians of the Holy Sepulchre. This served, indeed* 
as a prelude to a request that we would also intercede for 
them with the governor, by representing to him, that any ill 
usage offered to Christians would be resented by the British 
nation.* We rendered them all the service in our power, and 
they were very thankful. 
Friday, July 10.—This morning our room was filled with 
Armenians and Jews, bringing for sale the only produce of 
the Jerusalem manufactures; beads, crosses, shells, &c. The 
shells were of the kind we call mother-of-pearl, ingeniously, 
although coarsely, sculptured, and formed into various shapes, 
Those of the largest size, and the most perfect, are formed in¬ 
to clasps for the zones of the Greek women. Such clasps are 
worn by the ladies of Cyprus, Crete, Rhodes, and the islands 
of the Archipelago. All these, after being purchased, are 
taken to the church of the Holy Sepulchre, where they re¬ 
ceive a sort of benediction : exactly after the manner in which 
the beads and crosses, purchased at Loretto in Italy, are 
placed in a wooden bowl belonging to the house of the Virgin 
* They have since made a similar application to Mons. i)e Chateaubriand; and' it 
appears, from his narrative, that they hold nearly the same language to all comers. 
“ They thought themselves saved,” says he, “ by the presence.of one single French¬ 
man.” (See Travels, vol. I. p. 387. 'Lend. 1811.) They had paid the Turkish go- 
verhor, the preceding year, 60,000 piastres; nor has there ever yet been an instance 
of their having refused to comply with his demands. Still Mons. De Chateaubriand 
maintains that they are “ very poor.” Admitting the injustice of the robberies coin 
milled upon them by the Turks, the mere fact of the booty so often obtained affords 
proof to the contrary. We believed them to be .very rich. The attention and hos¬ 
pitality we experienced in this convent demand the fullest acknowledgment. Whe¬ 
ther their situation with regard to Djezzar Pacha, or the services we rendered them, 
by our remonstrances with the. governor, caused them to refuse any remuneration 
from us, we did not learn. We could not prevail upon them to accept of payment for 
our hoard and lodging. Yet while we acknowledge this bounty, we should deem a 
statement of their poverty unjustifiable, knowing it to be false. 
