C53 Chateaubriand's Travels 
nhke marble, incriisted w^ith jasper, and 
surrounded by a circle of silver, having 
ravs resembling those with which tire 
sun is represented. Around it are in¬ 
scribed these words : 
HIC DE VIRGINE MARIA 
JESUS CHRISTUS NATOS EST. 
At the distance of seven paces to¬ 
wards the southj^after you have passed 
the foot of one of tiie staircases leading 
to the upper civjrch, you find the Man¬ 
ger. You go down to it by two steps, 
for it is not upon a level with the rest 
of the crypt. It is a low recess, hew-n 
out of the rock, A block of white 
marble, raised about a foot above the 
iioor, and hollowed in the form of a 
manner, indicates the very spot wliere 
the Sovereign of Heaven was laid upon 
straw. 
Two paces farther, opposite to the 
manger, stands an altar, which occupies 
the place where Mary sat when she pre¬ 
sented the Child of Sorrows to the ado¬ 
ration of the Magi. 
Nothiirg can be more pleasing, or 
better calculated to excite sentiments of 
devotion, than this subterraneous church. 
It is adorned with pictures of the Ita¬ 
lian and Spanish schools. These pic¬ 
tures represent the mysteries of tlie 
place, the Virgin and Child after Ra- 
phcl, the Annunciation, the Adoration 
of the Wise Men, the coming of the 
Shepherds, and all those miracles of 
ininwlfcd grandeur and innocence. The 
usual ornaments of the manger are of 
blue satin embroidered with silver. In¬ 
cense is continually smoking before the 
ciadle of the Saviour. I have heard 
an organ, touched by no ordinary hand, 
play ciurinti mass, the sweetest and most 
tender tunes of the best Italian com¬ 
posers. Tliese concerts charm the 
Christian Arab, who, leaving his camels 
to feed, repairs, like the shepherds of 
old to Bethlehem, to adore the Kiiw of 
tings in his manger. I have seen this 
inhabitant of the desert communicate 
at the altar of the Magi, with a fervour, 
a piety, a devotion, unknown among the 
Christians of the west. 
From the grotto of the Nativity we 
went to the subterraneous cliapel, where 
tradition places the sepulchre of the 
Innocents: “ Herod sent forth and slew 
all the children that were in Bethlehem, 
and in all the coasts thereof, from two 
\ears old and under. Then was ful¬ 
filled that which was spoken by Jeremiali 
the prophet, saying: ' Ih ilaaia svas there 
a voice beard,” &c. 
in Greece^ Palestine, S(c, 
The chapel of the Innocents con* 
ducted us to the grotto of St, Jerome. 
Here you find ^he sepulchre of this 
Father of tlie church, that of Eusebius, 
and the tombs of St. Paula and St, 
Eustochium. 
In this grotto St. Jerome spent t!is 
greater part of his life. From this re- 
tirenieiu he beheld the fall of the Roman 
empire, and here he received those 
fugitive patricians, who, after they had 
possessed the palaces of the earth, 
deemed themselves happy to share the 
cell of a cenobite. The peace of the 
same and the troubles of the world pro¬ 
duce a wonderful effect in the letters of 
the learned commentator on the Scrip¬ 
tures. 
We mounted bur horses and set out 
from Bethlehem. Six Bethlehemite 
Arabs on foot, armed with daggers and 
long matchlocks, formed our escort; 
three of them marched before and three 
behind. We had added to our cavalry 
an ass, which carried water and pro¬ 
visions. We pursued the w-ay that leads 
to the njonastery of St. Saba, whence 
w'e were afterwards to descend to the 
Dead Sea and to return by the Jordan. 
We first followed the valley of Beth- 
leiiem, which, as I have observed, 
stretches away to the east. We passed 
a ridge of hills, where you see, on the 
right, a vineyard recently planted, a 
circumstance too rare in this country for 
me not to remark it. We arrived at 
a grot called the Grotto of the Sliep- 
herdsi,. The Arabs still give it the ap¬ 
pellation of Dtael Natour, the Village of 
the Shepherds. It is said that Abraliam 
here fed his flocks, and tliat on this 
spot the shepherds of Judea were in¬ 
formed by the angel of the birtii of the 
Saviour. 
THE DEAD SEA. 
As we advanced, the aspect of the 
mountains still continued the same, 
that is, wliite, dusty, without slfade, witli- 
out tree, without herbage, without moss. 
At half-past four we descended from the 
lofty chain of these mountains to another 
less elevated. We proceeded for fifty 
minutes over a level plain, and at length 
arrived at the last range of hills that form 
the western border of the valley of tin; 
Jordan and the Dead -Sea, The sun was 
near setting, we alighted to give a little 
rest to our horses, anti I contemplated at 
leisure tlie lake, the valley, and the river. 
When we hear of a valley, we figure 
to ourselves a valley either cultivated or 
iincul- 
