square, with a low stone inclosure; containing eight large olive-trees, apparently of great 
antiquity. “ They are,” says a recent traveller, “ still in a sort of ruined cultivation; the 
fences broken down and the trees decaying. Here no violence, or none that merits notice, 
has been done to the simplicity of the scene.” 1 
The view is extensive beyond the city, commanding the plain of Jericho, and, on the 
east, the valley of the Jordan, and a portion of the Dead Sea. On the summit of the 
mount is an Arab village, with a stone building in its centre, which is said to mark the spot 
of the “ Ascension.” But our Lord ascended from Bethany. 
1 Jowett’s Researches, p. 253. 
THE STONE OF UNCTION. 
In the description of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, it was mentioned that the “ Stone 
of Unction” was the first object of homage which meets the pilgrims on their entrance, and 
that it always attracts a large concourse, who exhibit the strong extravagances of foreign 
feeling and gesture. It is a long slab of polished white marble; but this is admitted to be 
only a covering for the true stone, to protect it from the casualties to which all relics were 
subject during the sway of the unbelievers. The Turks, however, looking upon the whole 
ceremonial as an advantageous source of revenue, and an inducement for strangers to visit 
the city, seldom interfere, but to prevent tumult; and whether their toleration results from 
contempt or policy, it is practically complete. 
The monks say that the stone, of which this marble is the cover, is the one on which 
the body of our Lord was laid, when given to Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, and by 
them anointed for sepulture. It has as largely shared the general decoration of this sump¬ 
tuous dome, as it does the homage of the pilgrims. Having at each end three enormous 
wax candles upwards of twenty feet high, and with the light of a number of lamps poured 
upon it from above, it forms a striking centre for the first gathering of those picturesque 
and enthusiastic groups. The lamps are silver, and some of them of rich and curious 
workmanship, the gifts of the Greek, Latin, and Armenian convents, or of royal and noble 
devotees. 
