INTERIOR OF THE CITY.

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either from their size or beauty, are likely to engage the attention. Eight or ten minarets mark the position of so many mosques in different parts of the town, but they are only noticed because of their elevation above the surrounding edifices. Upon the same principle, the eye rests for a moment upon a great number of low domes which form the roofs of the principal dwellings, and relieve the heavy uniformity of the flat, plastered roofs which cover the greater mass of more humble habitations. Many ruinous piles and a thousand disgusting objects are concealed or disguised by the distance. Many inequalities of surface, which exist to so great an extent that there is not a level street of any length in Jerusalem, are also unperceived.

From the same commanding point of view, a few olive and fig trees are seen in the lower part of the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and scattered over the side of Olivet from its base to the summit. They are sprinkled yet more sparingly on the southern sides of the city on Mounts Zion and Ophel. North of Jerusalem, the olive plantations appear more numerous as well as thrifty, and they offer a grateful contrast to the sunburned fields and bare rocks which predominate in this landscape. The region west of the city appears to be destitute of trees.

Fields of stunted wheat, yellow with the drought rather than white for the harvest, are seen on all sides of the town.

INTERIOR OF JERUSALEM.

The hills on which the ancient city stood are still easily distinguishable, though the natural surface has undergone great changes. We learn from Josephus that some of these elevations were cut down, and the valleys between them filled up by the Asmonean kings.

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DESCRIPTION OF MOUNT ZION.

The decay of ancient buildings and the accumulations of rubbish through so many ages have probably done yet more to encumber and conceal the original features of this site. Some conjecture may be formed of the probable extent of these changes from an experiment lately made near the summit of Zion, where the accumulations are likely to be much less than in the valleys. Mr. Nicolayson is now engaged in erecting a church on the summit of Zion, near the Bethlehem Gate. His labourers have already penetrated more than thirty feet in digging for a foundation for this edifice, without having reached the original surface.

That portion of Mount Zion which is included in the present walls constitutes, as I have already said, the southwest quarter of the city. It is separated on the east by the Valley of Tyropoon from Mount Moriah. The descent on this side is steep and precipitous. On the north it is separated from Mount Akra by the same valley, which at first runs eastward from near the Jaffa Gate, dividing Mount Zion from Akra, and then bends to the south, and separates Zion from Mount Moriah. On the south and west, outside of the walls, the Valley of the Son of Hinnom winds along its base, as already described. The Jews occupy the part of Zion towards the Temple, or the eastern, where they have their synagogues. It is the most miserable and filthy part of the city, redolent of bad odours. A considerable tract in the angle between the south wall and the Haram, upon and below the steep slope, is vacant, and covered with prickly pears and a few trees. On the higher ground, farther west and near the southwest angle of the city, is the vast convent of the Armenians. The larger portion of Zion is outside of the wall, where it spreads out into a plain next the city,

which slopes off towards the Valley of Tyropæon on the east, and towards Hinnom on the south and west.

Mount Moriah no longer exhibits to the beholder any of its original features, which are masked completely by the immense construction of the Haram. Nothing is now visible but the walls of that great quadrangle. These enclose the mount, and the included area was filled up so as to form a vast platform, the noble site of the ancient Temple, and of the modern Mosques of Omar and El Aksa. East of the Haram Mount Moriah descends very rapidly to the bed of Cedron, and on the south it declines into the lower elevation of Ophel, already described.

Passing from this enclosure northward by the reputed pool of Bethesda, we soon begin to ascend Bezetha, which rises to a considerable height, and extends quite to the north as well as eastern wall. It descends to the Valley of Jehoshaphat on the east side of the city, while upon the west it is separated from Mount Akra by a valley that proceeds from near the Damascus Gate to join the Tyropcon not far from the northwest corner of the Haram. This seems never to have been an important part of Jerusalem, and we learn from Josephus that it was not included within the walls till the city had "gradually crept beyond its old limits," when it was fortified by Agrippa. The houses are scattering and mean, and much space is now covered with gardens and olive-trees.

It only remains to speak of Mount Akra, which occupies the northwest quarter of the city, and may be regarded as a point of Mount Gihon, which comes down towards the city from the northwest in the form of an inclined plain, already described, and forms a sort of promontory in the fork of the two branches of the Valley of Tyropcon. Akra is nearly as high as Mount