commendations and benedictions upon the heroes of the British Navy; dwelling with enthusiasm upon the exploits of Nelson at Aboukir; upon those of Sir Sidney Smith at Acre; and upon the glorious fate of the lamented Abercrombie. CHAPTER XVIII. CHAP. XVIII. Journey to THE HOLY LAND-JERUSALEM, TO BETHLE- Journey to Bethlehem-Singular Example of Dexterity in a Goat-View of Bethlehem-Prospéct of the Dead SeaErroneous 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 Valley of Jeremiah-Vegetable Productions Arabs--Bethoor-Rama-History of that City-St. George af 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. W WHEN we had seen all, and much more than is worth notice, in Jerusalem; and had obtained from the Bethlehem. Superior of the Franciscan Monastery the usual certificate given to pilgrims (891), 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 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 re- CHAP.XVIII. ceive 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. Goat. L Upon our road, we met an Arab with a Goat, which Singular Dexhe led about the country to exhibit, in order to gain a liveli- terity of a hood 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(892). Nothing can shew more strikingly the tenacious footing possessed 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 (893). The diameter of the upper cylinder, on which its fore 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 View of leaving Jerusalem, we came in view of Bethlehem, and Bethlehem. 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 Tt CHAP.XVII. the eastern side. The battlements and walls of this buildProspect of ing seemed like those of a vast fortress.) The Dead Sea the Dead Sea. below, upon our left, appeared so near to us, that we Erroneous tained of this Lake. thought we could have rode thither in a very short space of time. Still nearer stood a mountain 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[894]. 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 Notions enter 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 and deadly influence. "Beautiful fruit," say they "grows upon its shores, which is no sooner touched, than it becomes dust and bitter ashes." In addition to its physical 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 for the marvellous has thus affixed, for ages, false characteristics to the sublimest associations of natural seenery 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 fishes [895] that, instead of falling victims to its exhaltations, certain birds (896) make it their peculiar resort; that shells abound upon its shores (897); that the pretended "fruit, containing ashes," is as natural and as admirable a production of nature as the rest of the vegetable kingdom (898); that bodies sink or float in it, according to the proportion of their gravity to the gravity of the water (899); that its vapours are not more insalubrious than those of any other lake (900); that innumerable Arabs people the neigbouring district(901); notwithstanding all these facts are now well established. even the latest authors by whom it is mentioned, and one among the number, from whose writings some of these truths CHAP.XVIII. have been derived, continue to fill their descriptions with imaginary horrors (902) and ideal phantoms, which, though less substantial than the "black perpendicular rocks' around it, "cast their lengthened shadows over the waters of the Dead Sea (903)." The Antients, as it is observed by the traveller now alluded to(904), were much better acquainted with it than are the moderns: and, it may be added, the time is near at hand, when it will be more philosophically examined (905). The present age is not that in which countries so situated can long continue unexplored. The thirst of knowledge, and the love of travel, have attained to such a pitch, that every portion of the globe will be ransacked for their gratification. Indeed, one of the advantages derived from the present perturbed state of nations is that of directing the observation of enlightened travellers to regions they probably would not othewise have noticed. Reland, in his account of Lake Asphaltites (906), after inserting copious extracts from Galen, concerning the properties and quality of the water, and its natural history, proceeds to account for the strange fables that have prevailed with regard to its deadly influence, by shewing that certain of the antients confounded this Lake with another, bearing the same appellation of Asphaltites (which signifies nothing more than bituminous) (907) near Babylon; and that they attributed to it qualities which properly belonged to the Babylonian waters (908). An account of the properties of the Babylonian Lake occurs in the writings of Vitruvius (909), of Pliny (910), of Athenæus (911), and of Xiphilinus (912): from their various testimony it is evident that all the phænomena supposed to belong to the Lake Asphaltites, near Babylon, were, from the similarity of their names, ultimately considered as the natural characteristics of the Judæan Lake; the two Asphaltites being confounded (913). Thus, when Dioscorides, extolling the Bitumen Judaicum, above all others, adds, that it is also found in Babylon (914), he is evidently referring to the bituminous sources mentioned by Diodorus Siculus (915). The Arabian geographers, and among these Ibu Idris(916), admitted all the fabulous opinions concerning the Dead Sea, which were found in the writings of the Greeks and Romans. CHAP.XVIII. According to them, no animal found in other waters existed Precaution Bethlehem, here. Among the numerous asserters of the remarkable specific gravity of the water, almost every antient Author may be included, by whom the lake has been mentioned; this is noticed by Aristotle(917); and it can hardly be doubted but that their testimonies have some foundation in reality. Maundrell, ATTOпTHE as he is emphatically styled by Reland (918), is entitled to implicit confidence in this, as in all other matters, where he speaks from his own practical observation. Being willing," says he(919), "to make an experiment of its strength, I went into it, and found it bore up my body in swimming with an uncommon force. But as for that relation of some authors, that men wading into it were buoyed up to the top as soon as they go as deep as the navel, I found it, upon experiment, not true." There is scarcely a single antient geographer who has not mentioned something concerning this inland sea. Josephus, Julius Africanus, and Pausanias, describe it from their own ocular evidence. The first of these often introduces allusions to it under the appellation of Lake Asphaltites. Its water although limpid, like that of the Sea of Galilee, and resulting from the same river, Jordan, instead of being, as that is, sweet and salutary, is in the highest degree, salt, bitter, and nauseous[920]. Its length, according to Diodorus Siculus, is above seventy-two English miles, and its breadth nearly nineteen[921]. Julius Africanus mentions the abundance of balsam found near its shores (922). The observa tions of Pausanias (923) contain nearly a repetition of remarks already introduced. The temptation to visit Bethlehem was so great, that, notwithstanding the increasing alarms concerning the rav ages of the plague as we drew near the town, we resolved, at all events, to venture thither. For this purpose, calling upon entering all our troop together, we appointed certain members of our cavalcade to keep a look-out, and act as guards' in the van, centre, and rear of the party, to see that no person loitered, and that none of the inhabitants might be permited to touch us, or our horses and camels, on any account whatsoever. In this manner we passed entirely through the town, which we found almost deserted by the inhabitantants, who, having fled the contagion, were seen stationed |