worshippers, some of them very old, who have come from afar with the one desire to die in the Holy City and be buried in the valley of Jehoshaphat; they kiss the stones, and sit for hours mourning. Sometimes a beautiful Litany is chanted here, of which the

Jerusalem is "a city which is compact together," and the places of numerous to describe in detail, are all within easy distance of each other. glance at a few of them.

interest, far too We must just

Near the Church of the Sepulchre is a fine old Gothic gateway; passing through it and the yard there is a staircase leading to a cloistered court, and beyond, a large open space, with traces of ruins. This is the Mûristân, the site of the Hospital of the Knights of St. John-a noble order whose history is full of romance. At first they devoted themselves to the care of pilgrims; then to battle with the infidels; then to an important part in politics. When Jerusalem was in flames they fled to Cyprus, thence to Rhodes, where they erected the massive fortifications to be seen to this day, and subsequently they settled in Malta, where their memorial is to be found in the cathedral, in palaces, and in fortifications. The Mûristân covers about one hundred and seventy square yards, half of which was presented by the Sultan to Prussia in 1869. The former refectory on the south side of the cloisters has been fitted up as a German Protestant church, and elsewhere in this place buildings for the benefit of the Germans in Jerusalem have been erected.

On Mount Zion is the Armenian convent, one of the largest and richest in the citywith tamarind-trees in front said to have been planted by Herod-and containing the Church of St. James, where it is said that apostle was beheaded. Near this convent is the so-called Palace of Caiaphas, containing the tombs of Armenian patriarchs; and, among

The

11 New in of represent the apunts of land as opposta the present tomi staude ezary against the Lowe Ginn a the ven if Terister Apostle Peter speeds of the place of Davide Peral as a mamer of pami accg. X meas sal be asigued why the Day n the we doll fare become a Liferent from that winei Neuermal nertne dopius fortistes testingy to the shove From that time to tue present, as then as we be my lensi vites a the sheet, me fnd then conuering the thal talent ageng Dind's tal vi tis gpot, and the Moammedans and Easter Chrismans med it with the same venent of It s beedless u ay, however, that then an may gprste gives to die rew, and that learned travelere have assigned Land's tomb o varias other places.

Adjoining the ton is a bulding à she is the supposed Ceramic per room,” where the Samour kept the last Puenter, and where. He appeared to Es ¿sciples after the Resurrection. It is a rom ifty feet by tiny, in coe part is a screen where Unse is crucinated by Ciristane; in another is a praying-place for Maskea. It is stated i when Thus destroyed durueuett, to'la bending, with a few others bear it, exped, and tuat the earliest travelun to the land found it lentibed as the some of the Last Supper. Among the bullinge of less Liet dial & goliry importance may be mentirned the Greer monastery, with no fie chambes and library; the Cogtie monastery, the Ayssinian monastery, the ay magogues, the Chand of St. Anne-the mother of the Virgin Mary, www Templar, na deze, was bere;-the resikuse of the Pasha, the Consulates, tu ede print, and the barracks.

It is beyond the verge of the work to include the environs of the great cities under to arrest of Jemalen would be complete which ignored them. No one can vitin thinking of the Mount of Olives and Bethany; of the Kidron and Car battante; ham; of the Tombs of the Kings; and many other spots every whit g a from within the walls of the city. We shall, therefore, as briefly as Jantuk, presse 4, vanite kome of these sacred sites.

baring ages from the Jaffa Gate, we may make an imaginary tour of the environs we studerer for dễ the dty proper.

Lowong ng the saley of Ghon, memorable as the place where Solomon was crowned ant pronaised king Kinga i. 33, 3, 45, we proceed along the valley until we come to a vel fem mat to west, on which is an old aqueduct built to convey water from the kud on. This wall forms the northern end of the Birket-es-Sultán, or Lower Pool

• Hackett, “Llustrations of Scripture."

of Gihon (Isa. xxii. 9)—a large reservoir one hundred and seventy yards long and seventy wide, varying in depth from thirty-five to forty-one feet. It probably dates from the time of Hezekiah; a tradition identifies it as the pool in which David beheld Bathsheba bathing. In the sixteenth century it was restored by Sultan Solimân, whence its present name.

Continuing along the valley of Gihon to where it turns westward, we enter the valley of Hinnom, bounded by the Hill of Evil Counsel on the south and Mount Zion on the north. It is a deep and narrow ravine, with steep rocky sides, where in ancient times children were sacrificed to Moloch, whence it obtained the name of Tophet, or Place of Fire. So odious did the place become that it was made a huge cesspool and charnel-house, and in later times the Jews called it Ge Hinnom, or Gehenna, making it signify hell. On the southern face of the valley at the eastern end is Aceldama, the traditionary Field of Blood of the traitor Judas-a small plot of ground overhung with one precipice and looking down another into the glen below. There is no historical evidence that this is the Potter's Field of the New Testament (Matt. xxvii. 3-10; Acts i. 18, 19), although the place has been regarded with interest from a very early period, and contains a vast number of tombssome of hermits, some of Crusaders, and some of more recent date-the soil being considered to be very favourable to decomposition.

At the junction of the valleys of Hinnom and Jehoshaphat we are close to a spring called Job's Well, one hundred and twenty-three feet deep, and lined with masonry, the water of which is noted for its purity and excellence. Stone troughs stand around for

cattle, and picturesque groups may be seen standing by a ruined mosque close by the well. This is En-Rogel, the boundary between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (Josh. xv. 7)-the spot where Adonijah "exalted himself, saying, 'I will be King"" (1 Kings i. 5, 9), and prepared a great feast in celebration of his coronation.

The modern Arab village of Silwân-a miserable place where the dwelling-places are

with stucco. The first thing that arrests attention is a group of seven ancient olive-trees, said to date from the time of Christ; then the Franciscan monk in attendance points out a cave called the Chapel of the Agony, a rock where the disciples slept, a column where Judas gave the kiss of betrayal; and, finally, he presents each visitor, for a frane, with a bouquet of flowers grown in the Garden! The Greeks have originated a Garden of Gethsemane of their own, farther up the Mount of Olives.

Close by, in the valley of the Kidron, is the Tomb of the Virgin, where, according to tradition, she was buried by the apostles, and where she lay until her "assumption." The church is approached by a descending flight of forty-seven handsome marble steps, and only has its porch above ground. The whole place bristles with legends and sacred sites, including the tombs of Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Virgin, the tomb of her husband Joseph, the sarcophagus of Mary, the Cavern of the Agony, and praying-places or altars for Greeks, Armenians, Abyssinians, and Moslems.

Ascending from the Kidron to St. Stephen's Gate (the road our Lord descended on the night of His betrayal), we notice the ledge where, according to tradition, St. Stephen was stoned; and, continuing past the north-east corner of the city walls, a journey of about half an hour will bring us to the so-called Tombs of the Kings-a series of carefully constructed catacombs or tomb-chambers, in one of which is a handsome sarcophagus-lid. The principal tomb is believed to be that of Queen Helena, of Adiabene, a convert to Judaism in A.D. 43. A quarter of an hour's walk from here are the so-called Tombs of the Judges.

Near the Damascus Gate is a Moslem sanctuary, called the Grotto of Jeremiah, where tradition states that the prophet wrote the Book of the Lamentations, and was subsequently buried.

Opposite the Grotto, and close beside the Damascus Gate-the handsomest in Jerusalem -are the subterranean chambers or quarries discovered by Dr. Barelay in 1852. They are a succession of mighty aisles and mammoth chambers, and appear to go the whole length and breadth of the city. It is probable that these quarries yielded the stones used in the building of the Temple, for "the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was building" (1 Kings vi. 7).

A pleasant walk from the Damascus Gate leads round the walls to the Jaffa Gatethe busiest, as the Damascus Gate is the handsomest, in Jerusalem—and affords an opportunity of looking at the vast Russian buildings provided for the accommodation of pilgrims, and the excellent Talitha Kumi (Mark v. 41), an orphanage for girls founded by the RhenishWestphalian deaconesses-one of the most deserving philanthropie institutions of the city-and Schneller's Orphanage for Syrian Boys, where seventy pupils are well educated and started in life in some useful branch of industry learnt in the orphanage. this brings us to the end of our circuit of the immediate environs of Jerusalem.*

And

• Several of the engravings in this chapter have been borrowed from the illustrated edition of Canon Farrar's "Life of Christ."