656 Chateaubriand's Tra^'els in Greece, Palestine, Sic^ 
final leave of the Holy LanH, Jaffa, to¬ 
gether Nvith all Palestine, fell under the 
yoke of the sultans of Egypt, and 
afterwards under the dominion of the 
Tuiks. 
APPROACH TO JERUSALEM. 
Having crossed the stream, you per¬ 
ceive the village of Keriet Lefta on the 
bank of another dry channel, which re¬ 
sembles a dusty high road. El Biie ap¬ 
pears in the distance, on the summit of 
a loftv hill, on the way to Nablous, Nti- 
bol or Nabolosa, the Shechem of the 
kingdom of Israel, and the ^Neapolis of 
the Herods. We pursued our course 
through a desert w iiere wild fig-trees thinly 
scattered waved their embrowned leaves 
in the southern breeze. The ground, 
which had hitherto exhibited some ver¬ 
dure, now became bare; the sides of 
the mountains, expanding themselves, 
assumed at once an appearance of 
greater grandeur and sterility. Present¬ 
ly all vegetation ceased ; even the very 
mosses disappeared. The contused am¬ 
phitheatre of the mountains was tinged 
with a red and vivid colour. In this 
dreary region we kept ascending for an 
hour to gain an elevated hill which we 
saw before fis; after which we proceed¬ 
ed for another hour across a naked plain 
bestrewed with loose stones. Ail at 
once, at the extremity of this plain, I 
perceived a line of Gothic walls, tlanked 
with square towers, and the tops of a few 
buildings peeping above them. At the 
foot of this wall appeared a camp of 
Turkish horse, with all the accompani¬ 
ments of oriental pomp, El Cods f 
The Holy City !” exclaimed the guide, 
and away he went at full gallop. 
I can now account for tlae surprise ex¬ 
pressed by the crusaders and pilgrims, 
at the first sight of Jerusalem, according 
to the reports of historians and travellers. 
I can affirmj that whoever has, like me, 
bad the patience to read near two.hun¬ 
dred modern a.ccounts of the Holy Land, 
the rabbinical compilations and the pas¬ 
sages in the ancients relative to Judea, 
still knows nothing at all about it, I 
paused, with my eyes fixed on Jerusa¬ 
lem, measuring the height of its walls, 
reviewing at once all the recollections of 
history, from Abraham to Godfrey of 
Bouillon, reflecting on the total change 
accomplislied in tlie world by the mission 
of the Son of man, and in vain seeking 
that Temple, not one stone of whicli is 
left upon another. Were I to live a 
tbairsaud years, never should X forget 
tliat desert which yet seems to be per¬ 
vaded by the greatness of Jehovah auci 
the terrors of death. 
JERUSALEM. 
We entered Jerusalem by the Pilgrims^ 
Gate, near which stands tlie tower of 
David, better knowm by the appellation 
of the Pisans’ Tower. We paid the 
tribute,’ and followed the street that 
opened before us; then, turning to the 
left between a kind of prisons of plaster, 
denominated houses, we arrived, at twen¬ 
ty-two minutes past twelve, at the con¬ 
vent of tlie Larin Fathers. I found it 
in the possession of Abdallah’s soldiers, 
who appropriated to themselves whatever 
they thought fit. 
Those only whtyhave been in the same 
situation as the Eathers of the Holy 
Land, can form a conception of the 
pleasure which they received from my 
arrival. They thought tliemselves saved 
by the presence of one single French¬ 
man. I delivered a letter Irorn General 
Sebastiani, to Father Bonaventura di^ 
Nola, the superior of the convent. “ Sir/’ 
said he, “ it is Providence that has 
brought you hither. You have travelling 
firmans. Permit us to send them to 
the pacha; he will thence find that a 
Frenchman has arrived at the convent; 
lie Hill believe that we are under the 
special protection of the emperor. Last 
year he forced us to pay six thousand 
piastres; according to the regular custom 
we owe him but four thousand, and that 
merely under the denomination of a 
present. He wishes to extort from us 
the same sum this year, and threatens 
to proceed to the last extremity if we 
refuse to comply with his demands. We 
shall be obliged to sell the consecrated 
plate, for during the last four years we 
have received no alms from Europe: if 
this should continue, we shall be forced 
to quit tiie Holy Land, and liave the 
tomb of Christ in the hands of Ma* 
honietans.” 
I thought myself extremely fortunate 
to have it in my po%ver to render this 
small service to the superior, I request¬ 
ed, iiowever, tliat he would permit ms 
to make an excursion to the Jordan, 
before he sent the firmans; that the 
difficulties of a journey, which is always 
attended with danger, might not be 
farther increased: for Abdallah might 
have caused me to be assassinated by 
the way, and then have thrown the 
blame upon the Arabs. 
While I was waking for the.moment 
4 oi 
