ACRE.

THE HOLY LAND.-JERUSALEM, TO BETHLEHEM, JAFFA, & ACRE. Journey to Bethlehem-Singular Example of Dexterity in a GoatView of Bethlehem-Prospect of the Dead Sea-Erroneous Notions entertained of this Lake - Cause of those Opinions-Authors by whom it is described Precautions upon entering Bethlehem Descent into the Valley Critical Examination of a Passage in Josephus-David's Well Interesting Circumstances connected with its History-Antiquity of Eastern Wells-Account of Bethlehem

Tomb of Rachel - Caverns - Terebinthine Vale
Terebinthine Vale - Valley of
Jeremiah-Vegetable Productions-Arabs-Bethoor-Rama-
History of that City-St. George of Diospolis - Ravages caused by
the Plague-Jaffa - Improbability of the supposed Massacre by
Buonaparté-Antient History of Jaffa-Voyage along the Coast
-Cæsarea-Return to Acre.

WHEN we had seen all, and much more than is worth CHAP.XVIII. notice, in Jerusalem; and had obtained from the Superior

of the Franciscan Monastery the usual certificate given

to

Journey to

CHAP.XVIII. to pilgrims', of the different places we had visited in the Holy Land; we prepared for our departure. The worthy Friars, who had treated us with very great attention, finding

Bethlehem.

Sup-651. that we were determined to go to Bethlehem, where the plague then raged with fatal violence, told us, with expressions of regret, that they could not again receive us, if we persisted in our intention. We therefore took leave of them, resolved at all events to see the place of our Saviour's Nativity, and then continue our journey to Jaffa, without entering Jerusalem in our return.

Singular Dexterity of a

Goat.

Upon our road, we met an Arab with a goat, which he led about the country to exhibit, in order to gain a livelihood for itself and its owner. He had taught this animal, while he accompanied its movements with a song, to mount upon little cylindrical blocks of wood, placed successively one above the other, and in shape resembling the diceboxes belonging to a backgammon table. In this manner the goat stood, first upon the top of one cylinder, then upon the top of two, and afterwards of three, four, five, and six, until it remained balanced upon the summit of them all, elevated several feet from the ground, and with its fore feet collected upon a single point, without throwing down the disjointed fabric whereon it stood. The practice is very antient. It is also noticed by Sandys'. Nothing

can

(1) This Certificate entitles persons of the Greek Church to the title of Hadgi. It is a curious document, and has therefore been preserved for the Appendix to this Volume. (2) See the Vignette to this Chapter. (3) Sandys saw this in Grand Caïro. long, a sort of people that do get their

"There are in this city, and have beene of livings by shewing of feates with birds and

́can shew more strikingly the tenacious footing possessed CHAP.XVIII. by this quadruped upon the jutty points and crags of rocks; and the circumstance of its ability to remain thus poised may render its appearance less surprising, as it is sometimes seen in the Alps, and in all mountainous countries, with hardly any place for its feet upon the sides, and by the brink of most tremendous precipices'. The diameter of the upper cylinder, on which its four feet ultimately remained until the Arab had ended his ditty, was only two inches; and the length of each cylinder was six inches. The most curious part of the performance occurred afterwards; for the Arab, to convince us of the animal's attention to the turn of the air, interrupted the da capo: as often as he did this, the goat tottered, appeared uneasy, and, upon his becoming suddenly silent in the middle of his song, it fell to the ground.

After travelling for about an hour, from the time of our leaving Jerusalem, we came in view of Bethlehem, and halted to enjoy the interesting sight. The town appeared covering the ridge of a hill on the southern side of a deep and extensive valley, and reaching from east to west; the most conspicuous object being the Monastery, erected over the Cave of the Nativity, in the suburbs and upon

4

the

beasts, exceeding therein all such as have bin famous amongst us.
I have
seen them make both dogs and goates to set their foure feet on a little turned pillar of
wood, about a foot high, and no broader at the end than the palm of a hand: climing
from one to two set on the top of one another; and so to the third and fourth; and
there turne about as often as their masters would bid them." Sandys' Travels, p. 126.
Lond. 1637.

(4)

"On the cliffs above hung a few goats; one of them danced, and scratched an ear with its hind foot, in a place where I would not have stood stock-still

For all beneath the Moon."

See "Gray's Letter to Wharton," p. 375. Memoirs by Mason, Lond. 1775.

View of
Bethlehem.

CHAP.XVIII. the eastern side.

Prospect of

the Dead Sea,

Erroneous

Notions entertained of this Lake.

The battlements and walls of this

building seemed like those of a vast fortress. The Dead
Sea below, upon our left, appeared so near to us, that
we thought we could have rode thither in a very short
Still nearer stood a mountain
space of time.
upon its
western shore, resembling, in its form, the cone of Vesuvius,
near Naples, and having also a crater upon its top, which
was plainly discernible. The distance, however, is much
greater than it appears to be; the magnitude of the objects
beheld in this fine prospect causing them to appear less remote
than they really are'. The atmosphere was remarkably
clear and serene; but we saw none of those clouds of smoke,
which, by some writers, are said to exhale from the surface
of Lake Asphaltites, nor from any neighbouring mountain.
Every thing about it was, in the highest degree, grand and
awful. Its desolate, although majestic features, are well
suited to the tales related concerning it by the inhabitants
of the country, who all speak of it with terror, seeming
to shrink from the narrative of its deceitful allurements

66 grows sooner touched, than it In addition to its physical

and deadly influence. "Beautiful fruit," say they,
upon its shores, which is no
becomes dust and bitter ashes."
horrors, the region around is said to be more perilous,
owing to the ferocious tribes wandering upon the shores
of the lake, than any other part of the Holy Land. A

passion

(1) It is pleasing to confirm, by actual observation, the strong internal evidences of the genuineness of Sandys' narrative. These were his remarks upon the same spot. "From this ridge of hils, the Dead Sea doth appeare as if neere at hand: but not so found by the traveller; for that those high declining mountaines are not to be directly descended." Sandys' Travels, p. 176. Lond. 1637.

passion for the marvellous has thus affixed, for ages, false CHAP.XVIII. characteristics to the sublimest associations of natural scenery in the whole world; for, although it be now known that the waters of this lake, instead of proving destructive of animal life, swarm with myriads of fishes2; that, instead of falling victims to its exhalations, certain birds' make it their peculiar resort; that shells abound upon its shores'; that the pretended "fruit, containing ashes,” is as natural and as admirable a production of nature as the rest of the vegetable kingdom'; that bodies sink or float in it, according to the proportion of their gravity to the gravity of the water; that its vapours are not

more

(2) "About midnight, I heard a noise upon the lake. The Bethlehemites told me, that it proceeded from legions of small fish, which come and leap about upon the shore.". De Châteaubriand's Travels, vol. I. p. 411. Lond. 1811.

(3) See Maundrell's Journey, p. 84. Orf. 1721. There were many lakes where the same fable was related of birds falling dead in flying over them. A lake of this nature was called Avernus, i. e. AORNUS, without birds. Reland refutes the fable, as applied to the Lake Asphaltites. "Quod vero quidam scribunt aves supra lacum hunc volantes necari, nunc quidem certe experientiæ repugnat." Palæst. Illust. lib. i. cap. 38. Utr. 1714.

(4) See Maundrell, Hasselquist, &c.

(5) It is the fruit of the Solanum Melongena. Hasselquist found it in abundance near the Dead Sea. When the fruit is attacked by an insect (Tenthredo), the inside turns to dust; the skin only remaining entire, and of a beautiful colour. See Hasselquist's Trav. p. 288. Lond. 1766.

(6) De Châteaubriand's Travels, vol. I. p. 416. Lond. 1811. This author gives (Ibid. p. 412.) the analysis of its waters, being the result of an experiment made in London, upon a bottle of it, brought home by Mr. Gordon. Its specific gravity is 1,211. It is perfectly transparent, and contains the following substances, in the undermentioned proportions :

VOL. II.

Muriat of Lime

Magnesia

Soda

Sulphat of Lime