MANUFACTURE OF GLASS AT HEBRON.

301

XI.

HEBRON TO SANTA SABA.

Manufacture of Glass at Hebron.-Bishop Arculf.-Tomb of Adam.-St. Willibald.— Castle of Abraham.-Aner, Eshcol, Mamre.-Khurbet en Nŭsârah.-House of Abraham.-Well, Bîr el Khŭlîl.-Er Râmeh, Market-place for Slaves.-Terebinth at Abraham's House.-Visit of the Angels to Abraham.-Hospitality of Abraham.-Sarah.— Departure of the Angels.-Abraham's Intercession in Behalf of Sodom.-Caravan of Donkeys to purchase Corn.-Migration of Jacob and his Sons to Egypt.—Increase of the Hebrews prior to the Exodus.-Hebron to the Dead Sea.-'Ain Jidy, En-gedi.— Hazezon-tamar.-Expedition of Chedorlaomer.-Lot taken Captive.-Rescue of Lot by Abraham.-Pursuit of David by Saul to En-gedi.-Sheepcotes.-Beden, Wild Goats. -Isaac's Savory Meat.-Invasion of the Moabites and Ammonites.-Divine Interposition in Behalf of Judah.-Cliff of Ziz.-Wady Bereikût, Valley of Berachah.-Fountain of 'Ain Jidy.—'Osher, Apple of Sodom.—Palm-groves and Vineyards of En-gedi. -Camphire, Henneh.-Remains of Ancient En-gedi.—'Ain edh Dhirweh.-Beit Sûr, Beth-zur.-Defeat of Lysias by Judas at Bethsura.-Site of Ancient Beth-zur at 'Ain edh Dhirweh.-Scene of the Baptism of the Eunuch by Philip.—Halhûl, Halhul.— Kufîn.-Jedûr, Gedor.-Beit Năsîb, Nezib.-Beit Sakârieh, Beth Zacharia.-Battle between Antiochus Eupator and Judas.-Destruction of Public Highways.—Wady Biyâr. -Ruined Aqueduct.-Kŭl'at el Burak.-Solomon's Pools.-Supply of Water for the Pools.-Maundrell's Description of the Fountain.-Ruined Aqueducts.—Aqueduct to Jerusalem.-Lower Pool.-Solomon's Vineyards, Gardens, and Pools of Water.-Alpine Swift.-Tragical Incident.-El Khŭdr, St. George.-Tekû'a, Tekoa.-Amos.-The Wise Woman, David, Joab.-Mughâret Khŭreitûn, Cave of Adullam.-Tyrwhitt Drake's Description of the Cave.-David's Connection with the Cave of Adullam.-City of Adullam.-Jebel el Fureidîs.-Beth-haccerem.-Herodium.-Burial-place of Herod the Great.-Frank Mountain.-Jebel el Fureidîs to Mar Saba.—Santa Saba.—Ŭrtâs, Etam.

April 22d.

THERE are two or more places in the vicinity which we can visit this morning on the way from this city of refuge to the pools of Solomon, where we will rest and take our lunch.

I have seen it stated in books of travel that the glass ornaments and trinkets sold to pilgrims in Jerusalem are made here.

This is one of two manufactures peculiar to Hebron, the other being the making of leathern water-bottles. I was not a little

amused on my first visit to the curious little factory here. Having not long before examined one of those in America, I entered this with no little curiosity; but what a contrast! In an old rickety room were three or four small furnaces of earth, all aglow with the melted matter. The workmen were then making rings and bracelets, to supply the Jerusalem market. The process was extremely simple: an iron rod was thrust into the melted mass, to the end of which a small portion adhered. This was rapidly twisted and pressed into a circular shape merely by the dexterous use of a long blade like that of a knife. It was a second time thrust into the furnace, and, when sufficiently softened, was stretched to the proper size by the aid of another iron rod. The various colors seen in the bracelets, rings, seals, beads, and other like trinkets are blended with the general mass in the furnace, not laid on afterwards; and while some are nearly black, others are quite white, and others variegated with all the intermediate shades. I did not see them make lamps, although they manufacture large quantities for this country and for Egypt.

If we are to put any confidence in the brief descriptions given by early travellers in this country, Hebron must have dwindled to an inconsiderable village during the first centuries of our era.

The account given by Bishop Arculf, who visited Hebron in the seventh century, is the earliest we have, and he found merely the ruins of the ancient city. But he says there were some ill-built villages and hamlets scattered over the plain, and inhabited by a multitude of people; and to the east was a double cave, looking towards Mamre, where are the tombs of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Adam, the first man. Contrary to the usual custom, these graves were placed with the feet to the south and the heads to the north, and enclosed by a square low wall. Each of the tombs was covered with a single stone, worked somewhat in the form of a church, and of a light color, for those of the three patriarchs which were together. The tomb of Adam, which was of meaner workmanship, lay not far from them, at the farthest extremity to the north.

I believe Arculf was utterly misled, and that the graves shown to him were merely ordinary Moslem tombs, like those below our

TOMB OF ADAM.-CASTLE OF ABRAHAM.

303

camping-ground. He "also saw poorer and smaller monuments of the three women, Sarah, Rebekah, and Leah, who were here buried in the earth." Now, it is quite impossible that these were the real graves; and therefore the bishop, if he was actually here, must have been purposely deceived. He says the hill of Mamre is a mile to the south-west of the monuments, and covered with grass and flowers, with a flat plain at the summit, on the north side of which was a church, in which is still seen, rooted in the ground, the stump of the oak of Mamre, called also the oak of Abraham, because under it he received the angels, and that St. Jerome mentions the oak as having stood there from the beginning of the world. Not very likely; and the entire description leads one to doubt whether Arculf was ever at Hebron at all.

Bishop Arculf finds Adam's tomb at Hebron: was that a common tradition in former times?

The earliest Christian travellers and commentators were much

perplexed about the location. Many, perhaps the most, maintained that Adam was buried on Calvary, or in Golgotha, at Jerusalem, while not a few held that his sepulchre was in the cave of Machpelah. Sir John Maundeville, who came this way in 1322, not only says that Adam was buried in Hebron, but also that he was fashioned and made there. His account is an inextricable tangle of historical anachronisms and topographical impossibilities, with which you can amuse yourself any leisure hour you may have.

St. Willibald travelled through Palestine in the early part of the eighth century, and visited. Hebron, did he not?

His account is still more meagre than that of Arculf. All he says is that, after visiting St. Zecharias, he went to the castle of Aframia, where the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, repose, with their wives, and thence he returned to Jerusalem. By the castle of Aframia is meant the castle of Abraham, for at that time the Haram over the cave of Machpelah was thus called, and this became the popular name of Hebron itself, just as now the Moslems call it el Khŭlîl--the Friend-in remembrance of Abraham, the Friend of God.

Well, I am thankful to have seen el Khulil under happier auspices, and shall carry away with me a better knowledge of the

place and its surroundings. I suppose Abraham's three confederate friends, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, resided somewhere in this vicinity.

No doubt; and it is probable that Mamre gave his name to the district north-west of the city, and to the terebinth-tree near Hebron, by which Abraham dwelt, and that Eshcol in like manner gave his name to the valley farther down to the south. These are mere suppositions, however; and of Aner's place of residence we know nothing whatever.

We have been riding northwards through Hebron's vineyards for nearly an hour, and here, on the left of our path, are the ruins of a considerable village.

The place is called Khurbet en Nŭsârah—ruin of the Christians, which seems to imply that it was inhabited by Christians in some former age, and it is said that they were massacred by the Moslems. It is now entirely deserted, except during the vintage, when it is temporarily occupied by the owners of the surrounding vineyards. In the valley south of this ruin is a fountain, called 'Ain en Nŭsârah, from which an aqueduct, according to the local tradition, formerly carried the water to Hebron.

We will now turn eastwards for a mile, to visit the so-called House of Abraham. It is near the path from Hebron to Hůlhûl, the Halhul of Joshua, a city in the mountains of Judah, which Jerome places near Hebron; and a road leads from thence, through a rough and mostly deserted region, to Tekû'a, the ancient Tekoa of the prophet Amos.' I should have liked to have followed the latter, but our men say it is difficult for loaded animals.

This House of Abraham appears never to have been finished, and, considering its present surroundings, one is at a loss to discover the purpose for which it was intended: if for a castle, there is nothing in the immediate neighborhood to command or defend ; if for a church, where was the congregation to come from? for I see no indications of former inhabitants who could have needed such an edifice.

That it was never completed upon the scale and in the style originally designed is perfectly evident. All that now appears are 1 Josh. xv. 58; Amos i. 1; vii. 14.

ABRAHAM'S HOUSE-WELL OF THE FRIEND.

305 the foundations of a wall facing the south-west, and another at right angles to it, extending towards the north-west. The first is over two hundred feet long, and the other more than one hundred and sixty, with a space left in the middle of it as if for a portal; but the foundations of the two remaining walls seem never to have been laid. There are only two courses in the existing walls, and

the stones in each course are well squared and very massive, some measuring fifteen and eighteen feet in length, three and a half feet high, and all three and a half feet thick. In the angle enclosed by the two walls is a well, called Bîr el Khulil-Well of the Friend, that is, Abraham-about ten feet deep, no doubt ancient, and said to be fed by a never-failing fountain. The masonry is curved in the form of a circle, and near it are the remains of a trough lined with red cement hard as stone. About fifty rods northwards, on the top of the ridge, are a few prostrate columns, and other indica