CJLAIiK'E ? S tray els. 
In the citadel of Athens, and supposed to bear date from the 
foundation of the city A But, as a spontaneous produce, un¬ 
interruptedly resulting from the original growth of this part 
of the mountain, it is impossible to view even these with in¬ 
difference. We found a grove of aged olive trees, of most 
immense size, covered with fruit, almost in a mature state; 
from this circumstanceAve were unable to view or to collect 
blossoms from any of those trees, and are yet ignorant of their 
specific nature. That the olive of Jerusalem is of the same 
species with the European olive, we do not absolutely affirm;. 
the leaves being considerably broader, and more silvery tin- 
derneath than in any, either of the wild or cultivated varie¬ 
ties, which we have seen.f We provided ourselves with 
specimens from these trees for our herbarium , and have found 
lew things more gratifying than were these trifles, as presents 
Co those friends who wished to obtain memorials from the 
Holy Land. It is truly a curious and an interesting fact, 
that, during a period of little more than two thousand years, 
Hebrews, Assyrians, Romans, Moslems, and Christians, have 
been successively in possession of the rocky mountains of 
Palestine ; yet the olive still vindicates its paternal soil, and 
is found, at this day, upon the same spotf which was called, 
by the Hebrew writers, “ Mount Olivet” 0 and u the Mount of 
Om^s, 5; || eleven centuries before the Christian ssra. 
The rest, of this day’s journey tvas spent in viewing anti¬ 
quities justly entitled*to the highest consideration among the 
curiosities of Jerusalem,—the “ Sepulchre of the Virgin Ma° 
ry* ” and the “ Tombs of the Patriarchs all of these are 
In the valley between the Mount of Olives and the city, on 
the eastern side of the torrent Kedron, at the foot of the 
mountain. The “ Sepulchre of the Virgin” is to the north 
of the other tombs; these being nearly opposite to the area of 
Solomon’s Temple, where the Mosque of Omar is now 
See Be Chateaubriand’s Travels, vol. SI. p. 39« Bond. 181T. 
t It is highly probable that the supposed varieties of Glea Eurofaea, at present 
enumerated in the species Plantarum, include several distinct species. 
t “ Q,uis enim dubitet MontemOliviferum ilium es.se qui nunc illo nomine dicitur 't 
Et.ei quis dubitet, omnia locaadsjta et Valles et fontes etjivi aliunde- ostendent null*. 
alii cionti praeter hunc qa .convenire quae de Monte Olivifero veteres tradiderunt.’* 
Heland, Falsest. Illust. lib. i. c. 4. tom. I. p. 22. T'ra-j. Bat. 1714. 
£ 2 Samuel, xv. 30. Generally referred to the year 1023 B. C. 
jj The book of Zechariah has reference to a much later period; the following pro¬ 
phecy being generally ascribed to the year 587 B. C. 44 ‘ And his feet shall stand in 
that day upon ‘ the Mount of Olives,’ -which is before Jerusalem, upon the east; and 
the Mount of Olives shall cleave, in the midst thereof toward the east. toward 
wssV* ’ 
