remarkable than the Mount of Olives. Though spoiled of its vegetation at the period of the siege, yet such is the natural aptitude of the soil for the growth of olive trees, that there are now to be found upon it many of a very venerable antiquity. At the foot of the mount there is a grove, still called the Garden of Gethsemane. At the descent of the Mount of Olives our Saviour "beheld the city and wept over it." David, flying from his son Absalom, "went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up." Cold, indeed, would be the heart of that man who could tread with indifference on this hallowed soil. The "plains of Marathon and the ruins of Iona tell," indeed, of glory and devotion, but they tell also of the extinction of science, and of the fall of empire. He who wanders among the consecrated hills "which stand about Jerusalem," who is surrounded by those scenes among which the temple of the Most High was once conspicuouswhere the prophets of Jehovah denounced his dreadful vengeance, or hailed the approach of the great Redeemer-over which the star of Bethlehem arose, while the chorus of heaven proclaimed to earth the descent of the incarnate Deity, and from whence the meek and holy Jesus poured forth his benedictions on the pure in heart, the mourner, and the persecuted, while thousands re-echoed their blessings on him who had healed all their diseases-he, in fine, who sees that holy spot on which our expiring Redeemer, triumphing amidst agonies unutterable, exclaimed," it is finished" such a man will be wrapt into a far nobler company than that of the sages or warriors of Marathon or Iona; and though he may weep over the events which his memory will retrace, yet a joyful hope will dissipate his tears, when he remembers that the scenes among which he stands, will, ere long, witness the triumph of his Saviour's kingdom-that again all nations will worship towards Jerusalem-that the lion shall lie down with the kid, and that there, where the great sacrifice was completed, shall be seen the consummation of earthly happiness, and the glorious foretaste of heaven. In such feelings the author of this volume, we are well satisfied, has cordially sympathized.

At

Bethlehem is distant from Jerusalem about six miles. this place the plague prevailed to such an extent, during Dr. Clarke's residence in the Holy Land, that when he announced to the monks of St. Salvador his intention of visiting it, he was informed, that if he persisted in his purpose, he could not be readmitted as a visitor at their monastery. Nothing deterred, however, by difficulties which would have alarmed a

less adventurous spirit, he finally quitted the Franciscan friars to visit the place of our Saviour's nativity.

The town lies on the ridge of a hill, on the southern side of a deep valley. A monastery is erected over the cave of the nativity, whose walls appeared like those of a vast fortress. The fear of contagion, however, prevented our traveller from exploring this building; and after all the mummeries which he had witnessed at Jerusalem, he had perhaps but little reason to lament his inability to see what would probably have been merely a repetition of them in a still more tiresome form. In the valley below the town is a well, by which Dr. Clarke's party halted for refreshment. Wells in the East are too va luable not to be very carefully preserved. Our author sup poses this in the valley of Bethlehem to be the identical well, the waters of which were brought to David by three of his "mighty men" at the peril of their lives. "The garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem."" And David longed, and said, Oh! that one would give me to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate." The conjecture, we think, is by no means devoid of probability. In connection with this illustration of the inspired writings it may be well to mention here a similar observation, made by Dr. Clarke in the Terebinthine vale, which lies in the road from Bethlehem to Jaffa. We give it in his own words.

"After three miles of as hard a journey, over hills and rocks, as any we had experienced, we entered the famous Terebinthine vale, renowned, during nineteen centuries, as the field of the victory gained by the youngest of the sons of Jesse over the uncircumcised champion of the Philistines, who had 'defied the armies of the living God.' The admonitus locorum cannot be more forcibly excited than by the word of Scripture: And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistine stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side; and there was a valley between them.' Nothing has ever occurred to alter the appearance of the country, As it was then, so it is now. The very brook whence David 'chose him five smooth stones,' has been noticed by many a thirsty pilgrim. journeying from Jaffa to Jerusalem; all of whom must pass it in their way." P. 625.

Dr. Clarke's testimony as to the unequalled fertility of Judea is very remarkable. "It afforded," says he, "one of the most striking pictures of human industry which it is possible to behold." The rocks and valleys were covered with vines and olive trees. From their bases to their summits, the hills were a continued garden. Millet, cotton, linseed,

tobacco, and barley, were seen among other standing crops. "It is truly the Eden of the East, rejoicing in the abundance of its wealth." "Under a wise and beneficent government, the produce of the Holy Land would exceed all calculation." The Dead Sea is seen from the hills of Bethlehem, apparently in their immediate vicinity, but, in fact, at the distance of a wearisome journey. The Arabs, by whom its shores were infested, prevented Dr. Clarke's approach. At the spot from which he beheld it, its appearance is wild, and in the highest degree majestic. It is upwards of seventy miles long, and nearly nineteen in breadth. Of this lake many marvels have been told. Mons. de Chateaubriand (as we have had occasion to notice in a former number) speaks of a "dismal sound proceeding from this lake of death like the stifled clamours of the people inguljed in its waters!" That its shores pro

duce fruit beautiful to the sight, but containing nothing but ashes-that its waters and exhalations are destructive of animal life-that it bears upon its surface even the heaviest metals-these, and numberless stories of a like character, have been perpetually repeated, and, as it should seem, from the more authentic accounts of Maundrell and Haselquist, with barely any foundation of truth. The accounts of the extraordinary specific gravity of its waters must, however, be excepted from this remark. Maundrell, a very high authority, asserts that it bore up his body in swimming, with uncommon strength. Every author, indeed, by whom the lake is mentioned, (as is observed by Dr. Clarke,) from Aristotle downwards, concurs in attesting the reality of this fact.

Of much narrower dimensions, but in beauty not inferior to the Dead Sea, is the Lake of Gennesareth, or the Sea of Gallilee. On its banks are the village of Emmaus, and the city or town of Capernaum. Our travellers enjoyed in its limpid waves all the luxury of the bath, in the highest perfection in which that luxury is to be found.

Nor, perhaps, is there in the world any climate in which this indulgence is more necessary or grateful. On his journey between Cana and Turan, Dr. Clarke and his companions retired into a cavern, excavated in some rocks overhanging the road, for the purpose of repairing a broken umbrella. It was now the 15th of July. The mercury in a gloomy recess under ground, perfectly shaded, while the scale was placed so as not to touch the rock, remained at 100 degrees of Fahrenheit. "As to making any observation in the sun's rays," says Dr. Clarke, "that was impossible; not one of the party had courage to wait with the thermometer a single minute in such a situation." Other evils, not less distressing than the

heat, they had likewise to encounter. "The King of the Fleas," said an Arab Sheik to the disconsolate travellers, "holds his court at Tiberias."

In subjection probably to this irresistible Autocrat, though independent of all other authority, the predatory Arab tribes infest the whole extent of the Holy Land. Two days before our author's arrival at Mount Thabor, a party of the Djezzar's cavalry had assaulted a numerous band of Arabs who were tending their herds, and had put many of them to death after driving off their cattle. The apology for this outrage was, that the Pacha's tribute could never be collected except by force. The first care of the Arabs, on these sudden encounters, is to remove to the mountains the sick, the aged, and the women; the great object of contest being the cattle, which are pastured on the rich plains with which the country abounds. "Their usual weapons consist of a lance, a poniard, an iron mace, a battle-axe, and sometimes a matchlock gun." They reside in tents, and resemble, in their general habits, the gipsy tribes in this country. They are generally grave and amiable in their disposition, and in their manners courteous and dignified. Their passionate fondness for their horses is well known. Dr. Clarke has quoted from the Chevalier D'Arvieux's Travels in Palestine, published at Paris, in the year 1717, a very curious instance of the warmth of this feeling, which well deserves to be repeated. An Arab named Ibrahim, having become poor, was under the necessity of permitting a merchant of Rama to become a partner with him in the possession of a favourite mare. He made frequent journeys to see her, and the following is a translation of one of the many addresses made by this poor Arab to his mare on one of these

occasions.

"Mes yeux, lui disoit-il, mon âme, mon cœur, faut il que je sois assez malheureux pour t'avoir vendue à tant de maîtres, et pour ne te pas garder avec moi? Je suis pauvre ma Gazelle! (antelope) tu le sçais bien, ma mignonne. Je t'ai élevée dans ma maison tout comme ma fille; je ne t'ai jamais battué ne grondée; je t'ai caressee tout de mon mieux. Dieu te conserve, ma bien aimée! Tu es belle, tu es douce, tu es aimable! Dieu te preserve du regard des envieux." P. 494. note.

This is, however, a favourable sketch of the tenderness of heart of these sons of the desert, heightened, it may be, by some touches of French eloquence. Of their sterner mood our author had, in his own person, a very intelligible specimen. His baggage, containing, among other things, all his journals, had been seized by some Arabs lying at the village of Bethoor, in the neighbourhood of Rama. Attended by an Arab chief at

the head of a troop of horsemen, Dr. Clarke proceeded to the camp in which his goods were detained. Here a long and angry dialogue commenced between the sheik, who had got possession of the plunder, and the chief by whom our traveller had been escorted. The subject of the conference was, the expediency of making prisoners of the unfortunate Europeans. At length the formidable name of the Djezzar Pacha prevailed, decided the dispute in favour of our countryman's liberation, who, but for his potent ally, had not probably survived to tell the tale of his hairbreadth escape.

Dr. Clarke and his companions, after their visit to the Arabs at Bethoor, proceeded through Rama to the town of Jaffa.. At Jaffa he found the plague had preceded him. On the sands adjoining the town, he was repeatedly shocked with the appearance of dead bodies, from which the waves had washed off the thin covering of sand under which they had been deposited. The British consul at the place informed our travellers, that these were the remains of persons who had fallen victims to the ravages of the plague, and who had been carried thither for interment. The mention of Jaffa reminds us of a passage in Dr. Clarke's book, which we are happy to mention. He wholly discredits the story of the supposed massacre of the sick in the French hospitals. The ground of his disbelief, and, as we think, a very satisfactory ground, is the total silence upon the subject of the British consul, and all the other inhabitants of the place with whom he conversed. They were in the highest degree irritated at the conduct of the French, and lost no occasion of vilifying their characters; but though Dr. Clarke was at Jaffa so soon after the supposed butchery took place, he never, he says, heard this accusation even hinted at. The cause of humanity could gain but little, though it may lose much, from the propagation of unfounded calumnies, even against the bitterest enemy of human happiness; nor, alas! is it necessary to look to doubtful authority for proof of the relentless barbarity of the invader of Spain, and the spoiler of Moscow.

On casting our eyes over the sketch we have attempted to give to our readers of this valuable work, we are deeply sensible of the inadequacy of what we have written to convey to them any tolerable notion of the curious, important and amusing information with which it abounds. Nor, in estimating the ability of the author, must it be forgotten, that all the observations on the manners-the antiquities-the sacred, profane, and natural history of the Holy Land, with which 256 quarto pages of his volume are filled, were accumulated under all the disadvantages of a noxious and burning climate, and