CHAP. XVI. same Greek characters, destitute only of the Greek cross prefixed in the former instances. The inscription stood thus, Hebrew ТНСАГІ АС the letters being very large, and deeply carved in the rugged surface of the rock. The Hebrew Inscriptions, instead of being over the entrances, were by the side of the doors. Having but little knowledge of the characters with which they were written, all that could be attempted was, to make as faithful a representation as possible of every incision upon the stone, without attempting to supply any thing by conjecture; and even admitting, in certain instances, doubtful traces, which were perhaps casualties caused by injuries the stone had sustained, having no reference to the legend'. The following characters appeared upon the side of the entrance to a sepulchre somewhat farther towards the west than the last described. Inscriptions. (5) A copy of one of these Inscriptions was since shewn to some learned Jews. These men recognised the Hebrew character, and would have made such alteration in the CHAP. XVI. From the imperfect state of this inscription, and the decomposition of the rock itself whereon it is placed, the copy may be liable to error. It was made, however, with great care, and due attention was paid to the position of the lines. The words of the inscription are supposed to be Arabic, expressed in Hebrew and Phoenician characters'. The arrow-headed character occurs here, as in the Inscriptions at Telmessus. All the face of this mountain, along the dingle supposed to be the Vale of Gehinnon by Sandys, is marked by similar excavations. Some of these, as may be seen by reference to a former Note, did not escape his searching eye; although he neglected to observe their inscriptions, probably from keeping the beaten track of pilgrims going from Mount Sion to the Mount of Olives, and neglecting to cross the valley in order to examine them more nearly. The top of the mountain is covered by ruined walls and the remains of sumptuous edifices: these he also noticed; but he does not even hint at their origin. Here again we are at a loss for intelli the transcript as might serve to develope more fully the imperfect parts of it, and lead to an explanation of some of the words. This was not permitted; because conjecture, by introducing more than is warranted by the original, would rather bewilder than illustrate. In doubtful inscriptions, the pencil of an artist will frequently effect a more genuine copy than the pen of the profoundest scholar, who ventures to supply the vacant spaces, and even to alter the letters according to his manner of reading those inscriptions. (1) This method of writing is said, by that learned Oriental scholar, Mr. Hammer, now Secretary to the German Minister at Constantinople, to have been adopted by Arabian Jews, in their inscriptions upon the hills near Jerusalem. CHAP. XVI. respecting intelligence; and future travellers will be aware of the immense field of inquiry which so many undescribed remains belonging to Jerusalem offer to their observation. If the foundations and ruins as of a citadel may be traced all over this eminence, the probability is, that this was the real Mount Sion; that the Gehinnon of Sandys, and of many Mount Sion. other writers, was in fact the Valley of Millo, called Tyropoon by Josephus, which separated Sion from Mount Moriah, and extended as far as the Fountain Siloa, where it joined the Valley of Jehosaphat. The sepulchres will then appear to have been situated beneath the walls of the citadel, as was the case in many antient cities. Such was the situation of the Grecian sepulchres in the Crimea, belonging to the antient city of Chersonesus, in the Minor Peninsula of the Heracleotæ. The Inscriptions already noticed seem to favour this position; and if hereafter it should ever be confirmed, "the remarkable things belonging to Mount Sion," of which Pococke says there are no remains in the hill now bearing that appellation, will in fact be found here. "The Garden of the Kings, near the Pool of Siloam, where Manasseh and Amon, kings of Judah, were buried;" the cemetery of the kings of Judah; the traces and remains of Herod's palaces, called after the names of Cæsar and Agrippa; together with the other places mentioned by Nehemiah".". All along the side of this mountain, and in the rocks above the (2) De Bell. Jud. lib. vi. c. 6. (3) See the First Part of these Travels, vol. I. p. 504. Second Edition. (4) Description of the East, vol. II. Part I. p. 9. Lond. 1745. (5) Ibid. CHAP. XVI. the Valley of Jehosaphat, upon the eastern side of Jerusalem, as far as the sepulchres of Zechariah and Absalom', and above these, almost to the top of the Mount of Olives, the Jews resident in the city bury their dead, adhering still to the cemetery of their ancestors: but having long lost the art of constructing the immense sepulchres now described, they content themselves in placing Hebrew inscriptions upon small upright slabs of marble, or of common limestone, raised after the manner at present generally in use throughout the East. (1) See the Plans of Jerusalem, in the volumes of Sandys, Doubdan, Quaresmius, Shaw, and Pococke. Those in Quaresmius (Elucid. T. S. p. 38. tom. II. Antv. 1639.) are taken from Brocardus and Villalpandus, and adapted to their descriptions. That of Sandys is the best. See also the Plan engraved for this Work. Entrance to the supposed Sepulchre of the MESSIAH. CHAP. XVII. THE HOLY LAND-JERUSALEM. The Subject continued-Identity of the Holy Sepulchre again contested- PERHAPS it may now be manifest, that so far from deriving CHAP. XVII. accurate notions of the topography and antiquities of Jerusalem |