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author reached, by forced exertions, in about half an hour. This he found an oval plain of about a quarter of a mile at its greatest length, covered with fertile soil on the west, and with ruins of ancient buildings and fortifications on the east.

While in a grotto in the side of the mount, our author and his guides were startled by a noise of the rushing of persons at its mouth. This proceeded from five or six armed men, who told them, if they offered the least resistance, they should be murdered; but if they submitted to be quietly stripped, no violence would be offered to their persons. On this a regular skirmish commenced, in which a running fire, of an hour's duration, was kept up, till our traveller and his companions reached their mules at the foot of the hill. From the first, the Deborah guide had been suspected, and this suspicion was confirmed by his joining the assailing party. He soon met with retributive justice, by being wounded by a ball from Mr Buckingham's musket. He fell-his companions hastened to his relief-and the other party, profiting by the alarm, continued their retreat, and effected their escape. This rencontre, however, so sickened the Nazarene guide, that he insisted on returning to Nazareth, till measures should be taken to prosecute the journey in safety. The route back was by Cana of Galilee, which is seated on the brow of a hill facing the west, and is hemmed in by a narrow valley."

to succeed to the, vacant Pashalik, had sent his whole force there to execute the mandate. He had himself gone from Acre, and it was known that he would make his first halt at Jerusalem. With the view of meeting him, our traveller resolved to proceed to that city, and forthwith. commenced his journey, having previously obtained an official letter, in Arabic, from the Governor of Acre, stating that he had business with Suleiman Pasha, and begging all officers, through whose districts he might pass, to suffer him to pursue his journey without interruption. He took the route to Nazareth, and, on entering that town, was saluted by as many dogs as crowd the villages of Egypt. He made the best of his way through steep and narrow streets, to the monastery of the Franciscan Friars, where he met with a welcome reception. The inhabitants of Napara, the Nazareth of the Scriptures, are estimated at about 2,000, composed of Catholic Christians and Maro nites, Mohammedans and Shismatic Greeks. The Franciscan convent is larger and more commodious than those of Smyrna, Alexandria, or Cairo. The church attached to this monastery is said, by the monks, to be built over the spot on which the angel announced to the Virgin the conception of Jesus. It is a grotto, from the first compartment of which the famous chapel of Loretto was taken by angels, who flew off with it, by the way of Dalmatia, to Italy! La Cucina della Santa Madonna, with the exact spot where every event recorded of the Holy Family in the Gospel, or suggested by imagination, is carefully and gravely pointed out by the friars. There are several good pictures in the church; but our traveller remarked in all of them a glaring departure from costume and propriety. After leaving Nazareth, Mr Buckingham passed over a rocky bed, covered with thickets, and reach ed the village of Deborah, said to derive its name from the prophetess who dwelt under the palm-tree of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel, in Mount Ephraim *. This village stands at the foot of Mount Tabor, the summit of which our

* See Judges iv.

66

Nazareth was reached about eight o'clock in the evening, and the next morning, about nine, the journey to Jerusalem again commenced. A route by the sea coast was now chosen, and the first night was spent at Caypha, in the house of a Carinelite friar. This town stands at the foot of Mount Carmel, derives its name, it is said, from Hepha, or Kepho, expressive of the rocky ground on which it is built, and is thought to be the Old Calamon. It contains about a thousand souls, among whom are a considerable number of Deroozis, whose women wear on the crown of their heads a horn, pointing backward. The mules were sent round the promontory of Carmel, while our traveller

and his guides ascended to the summit of that mountain. The bay of Accho, formed by the skirts of the plain on which Acre stands on the one side, and by the promontory of Carmel on the other, was found to have a grander aspect than it is made to assume in our maps.

We cannot follow our author in his details respecting Dora, supposed to be the Dor of the scriptures-nor Cæsarea, which Herod built and embellished in honour of Cæsar.. For these we must refer to the book itself, or to Josephus, Pocoke, &c.

On the 16th of January the party arrived at Jaffa; where he was received into the house of Signor Damiani, a person who had made himself ridiculous by a mixture of the Asiatic and the European costume. He wore the long flowing robes of the East a well-powdered bag-wig-a cocked hat, with anchor buttons and black cockade and a gold-headed cane-all of the oldest fashion. His manners were those of a French frisseur, with nothing about him of consular dignity. His house--called the British Residence was darker, dirtier, and more meanly furnished, than the meanest cottage of England. Here our traveller was assailed with a volley of questions, which, luckily for him, left no interval for answers. "Are you a Milord? Are not the Protestants Jews? If not, are the English entirely without religion, or are they idolaters, unbelievers, or heretics? Is not St Helena, where Bonaparte is banished, five thousand leagues to the north of England, in the frozen sea?”

Proceeding on his journey from Jaffa to Jerusalem, our author passed along a road, on either side of which were gardens of orange trees, bending beneath their golden fruit, and secured by formidable fences of the prickly-pear. After a ride of four hours across a fine plain, diversified by occasional elevations and depressions, studded with villages, and enriched by cultivation, he approached Ramlah the city supposed to have been the residence of Samuel-the Ramath-aim-zophim of Mount Ephraim, 1 Sam. i. 1.—and the Ariinathea of the New Testament. At present it has 5,000 inhabitants, of whom the men in power are Turks.

The houses are high square buildings, with flattened domes; some of the terraced roofs are fenced around with raised walls, in which are seen pyramids of hollow earthen pipes, as if to give air and light, without destroying the strength of the wall itself. The large mosque had a tower with painted arched windows, like many of the churches in England; and the convent of the Latins is large and commodious, with a good church, an open court, and several wells of excellent water.

On the road between Ramlah and Jerusalem, a company of pilgrims were met returning from Mekka; the women were all, barefoot, and miserably dressed; and a single camel sufficed to carry the baggage of the whole party...

The aspect of Jerusalem, as approached by this route, rather disappointed our traveller. We shall allow him to state, in his own words, the impression which his first view of the Holy City left upon his mind.

As the sun was hastening fast to demules, and riding for about half an hour cline, we quickened the pace of our weary over the rugged face of this mountain's top, we came at five in sight of Jerusalem, on the western brow of this hill, and now but a little below us.

The appearance of this celebrated city, independently of the feelings and recollections which the approach to it cannot fail to awaken, was greatly inferior to my expectations, and had certainly nothing of grandeur or beauty, of stateliness or magnificence, about it. It appeared like a

walled town of the third or fourth class, having neither towers, nor domes, nor minarets within it, in sufficient numbers, to give even a character to its impressions on the beholder; but showing chiefly large flat-roofed buildings, of the most

unornamented kind, seated amid rugged

hills, on a stoney and forbidding soil, with scarcely a picturesque object in the whole compass of the surrounding view.

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that there is no other point of view whence it is seen to so much advantage. Mr Browne, who approached it from Jaffa, as our traveller did, says, "I must confess, the first aspect of Jerusalem did not gratify my expectation."

The superior of the convent of Nazareth had given our author a letter of recommendation to the Procuratore-Generale of the Latin convent of the Terra Santa. In this epistle he was described as a "Milord Inglese, richissimo, affabilissimo, ed anche dittissimo." His arrival was on this account hailed as a "ben venuto;" which made him be received and treated like a prince. On the doors and windows of the convents, among other names carved with great care, were, "Dr Shaw, the Barbary traveller; Dr E. Clarke, 1801, and Captain Culverhouse, his companion; Dr Wittman; John Gordon, 1804, whose name is every where in Egypt; Colonel John Maxwell and Captain Bramson, my companions from Alexandria to Cairo; Mr Fiot, whom I knew at Smyrna, and several others, of whom I had often heard as travellers in the East; but I saw neither the names of Maundrell, Sandys, Pococke, nor Browne." Among others, entertained in the convent, who had travelled much to very little purpose, were two poor and ignorant Germans. Their chief design in going to Jerusalem was to see the Holy Sepulchre, which could not be entered but by the payment of thirty-three piastres-a sum they confessed themselves unable and unwilling to pay.

The friars of the Latin convent scemed very unhappy; they complained of the severity of their duties, the difficulty of obedience, and the hardship of being banished from their native country. Nothing was talked of but suffering, and the de sire of returning to Europe. The duty these holy brethren have to perform, seems, indeed, arduous in the extreme. "The tinkle of the bell for service," says our traveller, "was heard at almost every hour of the day; and, besides getting up twó hours before sun-rise, to celebrate mass, they were obliged to leave their beds every night at half past cleven, for midnight prayers."

Mr Buckingham had an opportunity of visiting most of the holy places about Jerusalem; but these have been so often, so well, and so recently described, by travellers of the first respectability, that very little of novelty is to be expected respecting any of these celebrated objects.

We shall now accompany our traveller on his journey from Jerusalem to Jericho, and beyond the river Jordan, into the land of Gilead and Bashan. He left Jerusalem on the 28th of January 1816, accompanied by Mr Bankes, with that gentleman's interpreter, and two Arab guides. The party were dressed in the costume of the country-Mr Bankes as a Turkish soldier-his interpreter in his own garb, as an Arnaout-and our author as a Syrian Arab. In compliance with the advice of their guides, they were but poorly armed, and took with them only a small portion of bread, dates, tobacco, and coffee, with corn for the horses, and a leathern bottle full of water. They passed through the valley of Kedron, having Bethany, Bethpage, and Mount Olivet, on the right. After a ride of three hours, they reached an encampment of the tribe of Arabs to which their guides belonged, and halted to receive the pledge of protection from these guides, by eating bread and salt with them beneath their own tents. Those, and indeed all the Arabs that dwell in tents, have an air of independence

a brave and manly appearancenever to be seen in the inhabitants of the large cities of the East. The aspect of desolation which characterizes the greater part of the road from Jerusalem to Jordan, made the party feel most forcibly the propriety of its being chosen as the scene of the delightful tale of compassion, "which," says Mr Buckingham, "we had before so often admired for its doctrine, independently of its local beauty." The range of hills on the border of the plain of Jordan, the supposed scene of our Saviour's temptation, is entirely destitute of verdure, and contains many frightful caverns, formerly the cells of hermits.

The stream of the river Jordan seemed about twenty-five yards in breadth, flowing over a bed of pebbles,

*Luke x. 30-34.

clear, sweet, and easily fordable by horses. On ascending the east bank, flocks of camels, of a whitish colour, were met under the care of young men and damsels. Our author bears testimony to the accuracy of the description given by Josephus of this part of the country, and adds, that this point of view embraced almost all the objects which that historian enumerates. Descending from the range of hills nearest the river on the east, the party came, in the glen below, to an encampment of friendly Bedoweens, with whom they passed the night.

On crossing the second range of hills east from Jordan, is the range conjectured to be "the Iron Mountains" of Josephus. "We continued our way to the north-east, through a country, the beauty of which so surprised us, that we often asked each other what were our sensations; as if to ascertain the reality of what we saw, and persuade each other, by mutual confessions of our delight, that the picture before us was not an optical illusion. The landscape alone, which varied at every turn, and gave us new beauties from every different point of view, was, of itself, worth all the pains of an excursion to the eastward of Jordan to obtain a sight of; and the park-like scenes that sometimes softened the romantic wildness of the general character as a whole, reminded us of similar spots in less neglected lands." This delightful scenery was from time to time enlivened by tribes of Arabs, "dwelling in tents," and by their flocks of sheep and goats feeding on the young buds of spring. In the course of the second day's journey through this fine country, the party came to a river of about ten yards wide, but deeper than the Jordan, and nearly as rapid. It ran in a rocky bed, and its waters were limped, and agreeable to the taste: It is called Nahr-el-Zerkah-the river of Zerkah-by the Arabs. Mr Buckingham thinks there can be no doubt of this being the Jabbok of the Scriptures, which formed the northern border of the Amorites*. The north bank of this stream is steep; and when its summit is gained, an

Num. xxi. 24. Deut. ii. 37. and iii. 16.

extensive and fertile plain opens to
the view. As the travellers proceed-
ed, they beheld with surprise and
admiration a beautiful country on
every side-plains of the most fertile
soil-hills clothed with forests-
every turn presenting landscapes, the
most magnificent that could be ima-
gined. The oaks of Bashan,"
"the fat bulls of Bashan,"-and si-
milar expressions used by the sacred
writers as descriptive of this country,
now appeared highly characteristic
and appropriate.

On emerging from a thick wood, they found a party of at least thirty. peasants armed with muskets. They were taller, more robust, of finer forms and fairer complexions than the generality of Arabs. They wore long white shirts girded round the loins, but neither turbans nor other coverings for their heads. These men were cultivators of the earth-lived in a state of complete independence of the Turkish governors and used no land-marks to designate private property. They conducted our travellers to their habitations in the vil→ lage of Boorza, which is seated on the brow of a hill. Mr Buckingham thinks it probable, that this village occupies the site of Bosor in the land of Gilead, near to the brook Jabbok."

At an early hour the next morning, the travellers were again on their way, and in one hour crossed a brook, ten yards wide, which they suppos◄, ed to be only a more northern portion of the Jabbok, or Zerkah. The Arabs, however, said this was not the case, though they admitted that it was a tributary stream of the Jordan. The route still lay through a beautiful and a fertile country, from “a charming valley" of which they obtained the first view of the ruins of Geraza. On reaching them, they passed through a triumphal gate-way, nearly entire, of three arches. The central arch alone was for chariots. In the front were four columns, crowned with Corinthian capitals. Within the gate-way was observed a naumachia; it was constructed of good masonry, smooth within, but having rustic projections without. Both the triumphal arch and the naumachia were without the walls, as well as a variety of other ruins. The

gate through the walls on the south, by which the city was entered, had also three arches, with Corinthian columns. On the left was noticed a temple, and above it an open theatre, facing the north. Onward, in a line with the southern gate, the surprised travellers "came into a large and beautiful circular colonnade, of the Ionic order, surmounted by an architrave." From this, towards the north, issued an avenue of columns, leading to the principal street, which extended through the whole length of the city. The columns along each side of this street were all of the Corinthian order. "The proportions of the pillars seemed chaste; they were without pedestals, and their plain shafts swelled in diameter from the base towards the centre, and then tapered away towards the capital." This street is crossed, at right angles, by another of equal magnificence, running from east to west; and at the point of intersection was a square, strewed with broken columns with other ruins. Passing onward, the travellers discovered a portion of a teplem of a semicircular form, with four columns in front, and falling in a line with it. The materials employed in this edifice were yellow marble and red granite; and the sculpture of its friezes, cornices, pediments, and capitals-all of the Corinthian order" as rich and chaste as the works of the first ages." The name of Marcus Aurelius was observed at the beginning of an inscription on a broken altar, near the ruins.

After passing the northern wall, a quarter of an hour brought them to the Necropolis, in which some grottoes, and many sarcophagi of stone, were observed. Many of the sarcophagi were broken, and it was conjectured they had been ransacked by the Saracens, in quest of hidden treasures. The survey of this grand and unexpected sight was greatly more hurried and partial than could have been wished, as the day was far spent, the guides impatient, and the village of Soof, where the night was to be passed, still at the distance of an hour and a half's ride.

Mr Buckingham thinks that Geraza must correspond to the Gergashi of the Hebrews. After the Romans had conquered the countries east of

Jordan, they built ten principal cities in it, and thence gave it the name of the Decapolis*. Geraza, the ruins of which are still so conspicuous, must have been one of the ten. It is thought the same with the Essa of Josephus.

Beyond the village of Soof they travelled westward; and, on the third of February, came to the modern settlement of Oom Kais, which occupies the site of the ancient Gamala. The ruins here were found to be extensive and interesting. On the cast were observed tombs excavated out of grey a lime-stone rock. Some of these had stone doors, carved, so as to represent pannels, the heads of iron bolts, and even knockers; some were empty; and others contained sarcophagi. The summit of the hill, on which the ruins are scattered, commands an extensive view, embracing several interesting objects, such as the river Hieromax-now called Nahr-el-Hami-the sea of Galilee, the course of the Jordan, and the mountains of Palestine. The mouldering remains of temples, theatres, and other stately edifices, were numerous, and bore striking resemblance to those of Geraza. Dr Sutzen has fixed on this spot as the site, not of Gamala, but of Gadara. Mr Buckingham, however, on comparing what is said of these cities with what he observed at this place, is of opinion, that the ruins which he examined were those of Gamala. We cannot here enter upon the discussion of this question, but we may merely remark in passing, that we are led, from what is said of Gadara in the Gospels t, to look for it at no great distance from the sea of Galilee. Josephus says, Gadara was the capital of Persa; that it was sixty furlongs from Tiberias; and that the country of Gadara was the limit of Galilee on the east. Josephus, Bell. v. 8. Hist. vitæ suæ, and Bell. iii. 2. Pliny enumerates it among the cities of the Decapolis, and states, that it stood upon the banks of the river Heiromax. Nat. Hist. lib. v. c. 18.

Our traveller's leg and foot were so severely bruised by the falling of his

See Matth. iv. 25. Mark v. 20, and vii. 31.

Mark v. 1. Luke viii. 26.

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