CHAP.
VII.

Jerusalem.

Appearance Other Relics-Plan for the Survey of the City-Sion Gate-Discovery made by the Author-Inference derived from itPossible Site of Golgotha, or Calvary- Greek Inscriptions -Remarkable Tomb-Hebrew Inscriptions-Conjecture respecting Mount Sion.

E

We left Napolose one hour after midnight, that Journey to we might reach JERUSALEM early in the same day. We were however much deceived concerning the distance. Our guides represented the journey as a short excursion of five hours: it proved to be a most fatiguing pilgrimage of eighteen1. The road was mountainous, rocky,

(1) Authors disagree very much concerning this distance. Reland, who compares the computed measure, by time, with the Roman miles, (Vid. "Mensuræ quibus veteres locorum intervalla metiuntur," Palæst. Illust. lib. ii. c. 1.) makes an hour's journey equivalent to three miles; and this corresponds with its relative proportion to a French league, or to three English miles. But, in the valuable map wherein he has exhibited the distances of places in Roman miles, from Josephus, Eusebius, Arrian, Diodorus Siculus, and the Itinerary of Antoninus, (Vid. cap. 5, id. lib.) he states the distance between Napolose and Jerusalem as equal to forty Roman miles; that is to say, twenty-eight from Napolose to Bethel, and twelve from Bethel to Jerusalem. Again, in estimating the extent of the Holy Land (Vid. tom. I. p. 423. Traj. Bat. 1714.) he gives, from Josephus, Eusebius, and an antient anonymous Itinerary, the following distances:

Ab Hierosolymis ad Bethel, ex Itinerar. veter.

Hieros. et Eusebio

Inde ad Neapolin, ex eodem Itiner.

mil. 12.

mil. 28, vel. 29.

The fact is, that, notwithstanding the numerous authors who have written in illustration of the geography of this country, the subject still remains undecided. We have no accurate map of the Holy Land: and were we to collect the distances from books of Travels the labour would

be

283

VII.

Singular

and full of loose stones: yet the cultivation CHAP. was everywhere marvellous: it afforded one of the most striking pictures of human industry Cultivation which it is possible to behold. The limestone of JUDEA. rocks and stony valleys of Judæa were entirely covered with plantations of figs, vines, and olive

be fruitless. Phocas, who is generally accurate, states the distance between SAMARIA (i. e. Sichem, vel Neapolis) and JERUSALEM most erroneously; making it only equal to eighty-four stadia, or ten miles and a half: 'Aπò τῆς Σαμαρείας ἕως τῆς ἁγίας πόλεως εἰσὶ σταδία ὀγδοήκοντα τέσσαρα. "A Samaria ad sacram civitatem stadia numerantur quatuor et octoginta." (Phocæ Descript. T. S. cap. 14.) This would only allow a journey of three hours and a half. Maundrell makes it eleven hours and thirtyfive minutes, according to the following statement from his Journal. (See pp. 62, 63, 64, 66, 67. Journ. from Alep. to Jerus. Oxf. 1721.)

Adapting, therefore, Maundrell's time to Reland's scale, the distance would be little more than thirty-four miles and a half. We considered it to be much more; but it is difficult to obtain accurate measure, even by actual observation of the country, owing to its mountainous and rugged nature.

(2) If the following passage from Phocas afforded the only internal evidence to be found in his Work, of his having visited the country, travellers, who follow him, will deem it satisfactory. 'H diodos nãoa Xilóστρωτος, καὶ ταῦτα, κατάξηρος οὖσα ἡ πᾶσα τοιαύτη χῶρα, καὶ αὐχμηρὰ ἐστὶ καὶ κατάμπελος καὶ ὑπόδενδρος. " Via est omnis lapidibus strata ; et, licet tota ea regio siccitate arescat, et squalleat, ubique tamen vitibus et arboribus constipatur." Phocæ Descr. Terr. Sanct. c. 14. Colon. 1653. The extraordinary cultivation of this singular country, and the mode of it, is also noticed by Maundrell. See Journ. from Alep. to Jerus. pp. 64, 65.

CHAP.
VII.

trees; not a single spot seemed to be neglected. The hills, from their bases to their utmost summits, were overspread with gardens: all of these were free from weeds, and in the highest state of cultivation. Even the sides of the most barren mountains had been rendered fertile, by being divided into terraces, like steps rising one above another, upon which soil had been accumulated with astonishing labour. Among the standing crops, we noticed millet, cotton, linseed, and tobacco; and, occasionally, small fields of barley. A sight of this territory can alone convey any adequate idea of its surprising produce: it is truly the EDEN of the East, rejoicing in the abundance of its wealth. The effect of this upon the people was strikingly pourtrayed in every countenance: instead of the depressed and gloomy looks of Djezzar Pasha's desolated plains, health, hilarity, and peace, were visible in the features of the inhabitants. Under a wise and beneficent government, the produce of the HOLY LAND would exceed all calculation. Its perennial harvest1; the salubrity of its air2; its

(1) "The seasons," says Josephus, "seem to maintain a competition, which should be most productive." See his account of the country around the Lake of Gennesareth, (lib. iii. de Bell. c. 18.) as cited in a former chapter of this Work.

(2) We saw neither mosquitoes nor locusts; nor did the croaking of toads or frogs denote the vicinity of any of those deadly marshes which poison the atmosphere on so many shores of the Mediterranean.

limpid springs its rivers, lakes, and matchless plains; its hills and vales ;-all these, added to the serenity of its climate, prove this land to be indeed a field which the Lord hath blessed3:

"

God hath given it of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine."

The first part of our journey led through the valley lying between the two mountains Ebal and Gerizim*. We passed the Sepulchre of

CHAP.

VII.

(3) Gen. xxvii. 27, 28.

(4) Ebal, sometimes written Gebal, is upon the north; and Gerizim, or Garizim, upon the south. The streets of Napolose run parallel to the latter; which overlooks the town. (Vid. Joseph. lib. v. Antiq. c. 9.) "And it shall come to pass, when the Lord thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon Mount GERIZIM, and the curse upon EBAL." (Deut. xi. 29.) Also, in the record of the covenant, (Deut. xxvii. 5.) the people are directed to build an altar of whole stones upon Mount EBAL. "And Moses charged the people (ibid. v. 11.) the same day, saying, These tshall stand upon Mount GERIZIM, to bless the people;" "and (ibid. v. 13.) these shall stand upon Mount EBAL, to curse." (See also Josh. viii. 33.) The Samaritans have now a place of worship upon Mount GERIZIM. (See Maundrell, Journ. from Alepp. to Jerus. p. 59.) Reland (tom. II. p. 1006, tom. I, p. 344, Traj. Bat. 1714) wrote the name of this mountain both Garizim and Gerizim. The Samaritans, according to Phocas, believed that upon Mount Gerizim, which stands upon the right hand of a person facing the east, Abraham prepared the sacrifice of his son Isaac. Ων τὸ δεξιώτερον ὑπάρχει τὸ ὄρος ἐν ᾧ οἱ Σαμαρεῖς λέγουσι χρηματίσαι τῷ ̓Αβραὰμ τόν Θεὸν, καὶ τὴν θυσίαν ζητῆσαι τοῦ Ισαάκ. "In dexteriore montium Samaritanorum ea traditio est, Deus Abrahamo responsum dedit, et Isaacum in sacrificium petiit." Phoca Desc. Terr. Sanct. c. 13. Col. 1653.

VII.

Jacob's

Field.

CHAP. Joseph', and the Well of Jacob', where the Valley of Sichem opens into a fruitful plain, watered by a stream which rises near the town. This is allowed, by all writers, to be the piece of land mentioned by St. John', which JACOB bought "at the hand of the children of Emmor," and where he erected his altar to "the God of Israel." Afterwards, as the day dawned, a cloudless sky foretold the excessive heat we should have to encounter in this day's journey and before noon, the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer, in the most shaded situation we could find, stood at 102 degrees. Our umbrellas scarcely afforded protection, the reflection from the ground being almost as insupportable as the sun's direct rays. We had, during the morning, a long and most tedious ride, without rest or refreshment; silently following our guides, along a narrow and stony track, over a mountainous country, and by the edge of precipices. We passed, without notice, a place called Leban by Maundrell, the Lebonah

(1) See Maundrell's Journey, &c. p. 62. Oxf. 1721.

(2) "At about one third of an hour from Naplosa, we came to JACOB'S WELL." Ibid.

(3) Chap. iv. 5.

(4) Genesis xxxiii. 19.

(5) “ And he erected there an altar, and called it (EI-Elohe-Israel) GOD, THE GOD of ISRAEL." Ibid. v. 20.

(6) See p. 63, Journ. from Aleppo, &c.