Neby Nûh, the Wely near Dûra, bore S. 41° W. Taiyibeh N. 17° W.

After a stop of three quarters of an hour, we set off again at 121 o'clock, still ascending gradually along the ridge on a course E.S. The direction of the deep valleys on each side is here more from east to west, and for a time, our way led along the steep declivity overhanging that upon the south, among slippery rocks, which rendered the path difficult and dangerous. The bottom of the valley, far below us, was highly cultivated and full of vineyards. The Sirocco wind which we had felt all day, now increased to a violent tempest, bringing up the dust and sand from the desert, and filling the air so as to obscure the sun. The whole atmosphere became of a deep dun or yellowish hue, such as we had seen before in the desert near Ruhaibeh.1 As we approached the height of land, a few drops of rain fell, and left upon our clothes spots of mud, as if we had been spattered from a puddle. The guide said immediately, this would blast the grain; he thought the mud had a saltish taste, which we could not perceive; nor did we afterwards hear of any damage to the crops.

At 1.10 we reached the top of the whole ascent, the height of land and water-shed, between the valleys behind us and the branches of that in which Hebron lies. The town itself here came in sight down a valley, S. 65° E. fifty minutes distant. Descending gradually for ten minutes, we came to the head of the fine open valley north of the town. Here in a field on our left, was a very large and beautiful oak tree, (Quercus ilex, Arabic Sindian,) which passes among the Muhammedans for the tree of Abraham, where his tent was pitched. Towards the city followed fine vineyards and fields of grain, occupying most of the valley, all now in high verdure. At 2 o'clock we reached Hebron, and selected a spot for our tent on the grassy slope west of the town, not far above the lower pool, and near the straggling cemetery which covers a part of the open ground. We found great difficulty in pitching the tent, as the Sirocco had now become almost a tornado; the ropes were several times broken, and had at last to be doubled on the windward side. The air became dark, almost like night, from the sand and dust. After a short time, however, the tempest abated; and we had at evening a fine cool wind from the northwest. The actual heat was not unusually great; the thermometer rose only to 86° F.

We here dismissed our trusty muleteers and our guide; with all of whom we had been well satisfied, and indeed much

sebius and Jerome seem to refer the names Tappuah and Beth Tappuah to one and the same village, and to place it more to

wards Egypt; Onomast. arts. Bethaphu, Thaffu.

1 See Vol. I. pp. 195, 196.

pleased. We too were able to satisfy all their expectations; and they returned with light hearts the same evening to their homes near Jerusalem.

As we were pitching the tent, Elias of Damascus (Elyâs eshShâmy), the only Christian resident in Hebron, sent to invite us into the town, and to take up our quarters at his house. We however declined; and he then came himself to repeat and urge the invitation. This he did, not knowing who we were, but supposing us to be some "Milords" or other; probably from the rather showy appearance of our tent. We again declined, and positively; for we knew that we should be far more masters of our time and actions in our own tent, than in the house of another person; to say nothing of the inconvenience and vermin to which we should have been thus exposed. The refusal was softened on our part, by accepting a dinner, which he soon after sent us.-Elias had two years before removed hither from Damascus, and occupied the post of secretary or banker (or perhaps both) to the governor of Hebron. It was his ambition to become the agent of a Frank consul; and his applications in this behalf, both to English and American visitors at Hebron, were unceasing and somewhat burdensome. In the mean time, he was fond of appearing as the host and protector of Frank travellers, expecting thus to gain a sort of consideration in the eyes of his Muslim neighbours. This indeed had been the secret of his ready and somewhat officious hospitality towards ourselves.

1

Before leaving Jerusalem, we had made arrangements, as we supposed, to have men and camels from the Jehâlin ready for us at Hebron, so as to be able to set off immediately for Wady Mûsa. We had accordingly expected to find them waiting our arrival; but by some mishap, connected probably with the shutting up of Jerusalem, our orders had never been transmitted to Hebron; and we were therefore compelled, to our great disappointment, to lose the whole of the two following days in waiting for camels. Our chagrin was still further aggravated by the mismanagement of Elias, by which we were led to expect the arrival of the camels at every hour; and were thus prevented from making excursions to various places in the vicinity of the

town.

Thursday, May 24th. The general appearance of Hebron, and the impression it made upon us as we formerly passed through it, on our way to Jerusalem, have already been described.2 It is situated in a deep narrow valley, which having its head in

1 See Mr. Stephens' description of the visit and similar application of Elias to himself; Incidents of Travel, II. p. 166.—

Elias however was not a Copt, as there represented.

2 Vol. I. pp. 213, 214.

the open country an hour north of the place, passes down S. S. E. at first broad, with many vineyards, and then narrower as it approaches the town, with high hills on either side. The town itself consists of three parts. The main quarter is around and north of the great mosk, upon the slope of the eastern hill ; here are the bazars and the chief places of business. Further north, and separated from this part by an open space of fields, is another smaller cluster of houses, like a suburb. On the slope of the western hill, opposite the mosk and the south end of the main quarter, is also a smaller tract of houses; or rather, perhaps, the main quarter may be said here to extend across the valley and occupy the lower portion of both declivities. The town is without walls; yet at the entrance of one or two of the streets, in coming from the country, there are gates.

Directly overagainst the main part of the town, the high western hill retreats somewhat, leaving a recess with the gentle slope on which we were encamped; while north of this the hill again advances, and the acclivity is thickly covered with olive orchards of very old trees.-The geographical position of Hebron, so far as yet determined by a comparison of routes, is in Lat. 31° 32′ 30′′ N. and Long. 35° 8' 20" E. from Greenwich.2 The elevation above the sea is given by Schubert at 2664 and by Russegger at 2842 Paris feet.3

In the bottom of the valley, towards the south, where the town extends across it, is the lower pool; a square reservoir, measuring one hundred and thirty-three English feet on each side, built with hewn stones of good workmanship. The whole depth is twenty-one feet eight inches, of which the water now occupied not quite fourteen feet. Flights of steps lead down to it at each corner. Just at the north end of the main part of the town is another smaller pool, also occupying the bed of the valley, measuring eighty-five feet in length, by fifty-five feet broad; its depth is eighteen feet eight inches, of which the water occupied not quite seven feet. These reservoirs seemed to furnish the chief, if not the sole supply of the town at the time; and were constantly frequented by persons carrying away the water in skins. That of the upper pool seemed to be neither clear nor clean. The pools were said to be filled only from the rains.-Near the summit of the hill, north of our tent, was a fine cool fountain, from which we obtained our supply; it is sunk in the ground and arched over, with a flight of steps by which to de

1 Schubert mentions here on the west of the town a number of very old Pistaciatrees (Pistacia vera) with large trunks; Reise II. p. 478. These we failed to notice.

2 See Kiepert's Memoir in the former edition of this work, III. App. p. 34, 42.

3 Schubert's Reise II. p. 469. Berghaus' Annalen, Marz 1839, p. 429.

scend to it. Just north of the town too, by the side of the road along the bed of the valley, is another small fountain; which seemed to serve chiefly at this season for watering animals.

The pools above described are doubtless of high antiquity; and one of them is probably to be regarded as the "pool of Hebron" over which David hanged up the assassins of Ishbosheth.' The other alleged antiquities of Hebron, (with the exception of the great mosk,) did not occupy our attention. We neither saw nor inquired after the tomb of Abner, nor that of Jesse, nor the red earth of which Adam was formed, nor the place where Cain slew Abel, nor various other legendary spots mentioned by early and later travellers. The place called by the Jews the "House of Abraham," an hour from Hebron towards Jerusalem, with the remains of massive walls, has already been described, as the probable site of what was held to be Mamre in the early Christian ages.2

The great Haram, or rather the exterior wall which encloses the mosk, constitutes the most remarkable object in Hebron, and one of the most so in all Palestine. It is also one of the most sacred places of the Muhammedans; being held to cover the sepulchre of Abraham and the other patriarchs. We had looked at it with some care in our previous visit; and it was now one of the first things to claim our further attention. On our way thither this morning, we called at the house of Elias in the north part of the main quarter, to pay him our respects in return for his kindness. We found that he and his family had already gone out to spend the day under the great oak, which we had passed yesterday; and had left an invitation for us to join them there, and breakfast with them at a later hour. We then proceeded to the mosk.

The exterior has the appearance of a large and lofty building in the form of a parallelogram; its longest dimension being along the valley from N. N. W. to S. S. E. and not as in most ancient churches from W. to E. We measured on a line parallel to its eastern side and southern end, as near to it as we could; though not without some hints to desist, from an old man or two who came along. The length proved to be nearest two hundred feet, and the breadth one hundred and fifteen feet. The height cannot be less than fifty or sixty feet. The walls are built of very large stones, all bevelled and hewn smooth; and similar in all respects to the most ancient parts of the walls around the Haram at Jerusalem. But they are not in general so large, nor is the bevelling so deep. The architecture has this peculiarity,

1 2 Sam. 4, 12.

3

2 See Vol. I. pp. 215, 216. According to Irby and Mangles, and also Mr Legh, some of these stones are

upwards of twenty-five feet in length; Travels p. 343. Legh under May 8th. We did not notice any larger than about eighteen feet.

that the walls are built up externally with square pilasters, sixteen on each side and eight at each end, without capitals, except a sort of cornice which extends along the whole building. Above this, the walls have been raised by the Muslims eight or ten feet higher, with a small turret or minaret at each corner. There are no windows in any part of these walls. The places of entrance are at the two northern corners, where a long and broad flight of steps of very gentle ascent, built up and covered along each side of the building externally, leads to a door in each wall opening into the court within. That at the northwest corner seemed to be the principal entrance, merely perhaps as being the most conveniently situated.-The building stands upon the slope of the eastern hill; the rocks having been excavated along the upper side, in order to lay the foundations.

1

According to all accounts, the structure here described, including all that is visible from without, is merely an exterior enclosure of walls, around a court within. In this court stands the much smaller mosk, which is said to have been once a Christian church. Here in different parts, the Muhammedans have built tombs for the patriarchs; while their actual place of sepulchre is held to be in a cavern below, which even the faithful are not permitted to enter. But as the jealous bigotry of the Mussulmans of Hebron precludes all admittance to Franks and Christians; and the height of the exterior wall prevents any view of the interior, even from the adjacent hill; we are yet without any intelligible description of the mosk and its appurtenances, and know nothing at all of the cavern which thus represents the cave of Machpelah.3

2

The outer structure thus described, evidently belongs to a high antiquity; and the resemblance of its architecture to that of the remains of the ancient temple at Jerusalem, seems to point to a Jewish origin. Yet we have no certain accounts of

4

1 Life of Giovanni Finati, edited by Mr. Bankes, Vol. II. p. 236. Finati as a Mussulman entered the mosk.

2 "All the sepulchres of the patriarchs are covered with rich carpets of green silk magnificently embroidered with gold; those of their wives are red, embroidered in like manner. The Sultans of Constantinople furnish these carpets, which are renewed from time to time. I counted nine, one over the other, upon the sepulchre of Abraham. The rooms also which contain the tombs, are covered with carpets." Ali Bey's Travels II. p. 233.

* The only Europeans, who have entered this Haram, are the Spaniard Badia (Ali Bey) travelling as a Mussulman, and Giovanni Finati, the Italian servant of Mr Bankes. The account of the latter is ex

ceedingly brief; and that of the former, besides being brief, is so confused, that I can make out nothing either from his description or his plates. Ali Bey, Vol. II. pp. 232, 233.-Monro gives a more intelligible account; but as he does not mention the source of his information, we are still left in the dark as to its credibility; he speaks indeed as if from personal observation, for which most assuredly he never had an opportunity; nor does he indeed expressly say so; Summer Ramble I. p. 243 sq.-Benjamin of Tudela professes to give a description of the cavern, in which he says are deposited vast quantities of the bones of Jews; Itin. p. 76 sq.

4 So too Mr Legh: "From the general aspect of the building, resembling neither Grecian, Roman, nor early Christian ar-: