ENTRANCE TO THE MOSQUE OF OMAR. 351

blossoms are met with everywhere. The specimen furnished for the plate grew near the steps of the Mosque of Omar; and, small as it is,-being in nature only one-third larger than in the figure,—it is a poppy, and yields a narcotic juice.1

Leaving Gethsemane and proceeding westward, we passed the Grotto of the Virgin on the right, and entered the gate of St. Stephen, three hundred yards northwest of Gethsemane, called also by the monks the gate of Sitti Miriam, or Lady Mary. Turning to the left on entering, we had on our right the deep reservoir, supposed by some to be the Pool of Bethesda, but by Dr. Robinson to be the fosse around the ancient tower of Antonia. It has evidently been used as a cistern, as the incrustation distinctly proves. But its steep sides and great depth, together with the absence of any appearance of such porches as are described in Scripture, make it difficult to find in it any resemblance to the scriptural Bethesda. A Turkish sentinel, supposing that we intended to enter the mosque-area, yelled at us, at the same time presenting his musket; but we saved him further trouble by passing on to another gate, where we had the opportunity of viewing the grounds, though we did not enter. A large number-upwards of one hundred-of ladies and gentlemen entered the grounds and the Mosque of Omar on the 7th of April, 1855; and the Rev. Dr. Clason, one of the company, describes the mosque in a letter to Dr. Stuart. It is cased on

1 Order Papaveraceæ, species Hypocoum erectum, Linn.

2 Joseph. Wars of the Jews, vii. 2, 7; Bibl. Res., vol. i. pp. 434, 486.

352 DEATH FROM THE FIRE OF COALS.

the outside with encaustic tiles of the brightest colors, and the windows are divided by marble columns. Inside are arabesques, gilding, and mosaics of the brightest colors; and the light, passing through richly-stained glass, casts upon the whole an indescribable splendor. Under the dome is the holy rock, of native limestone, surrounded by a screen of carved wood. Under that rock is a passage where is shown a place said to be that upon which Isaac was offered. The company then passed out and beyond to Mosque El Aksa, to the south. This was once a Christian church, and was evidently originally built after the Byzantine style of the seventh century,-in the shape of a cross, with a dome at the intersection of nave and transept. The usual mosaics and stained glass were found here, but the church did not exhibit the richness of the Mosque of Omar.1

On reaching the convent, we found our room prepared for us. There were iron bedsteads, stone floors and ceilings, and very scanty furniture, leaving the impression that at all events there was little risk of fire, notwithstanding our hot furnace of coals was placed on the floor. The disengagement of carbonic acid gas from these furnaces we should think would cause frequent disease and loss of life; and we are not surprised to hear of the melancholy death of one man who had occupied the room in which we are now sitting. Not being aware of the nature of the exhalations, he closed his door at night, and in the morning was found dead.

1 Dr. Stuart's Tent and Khan, p. 517.

PROCESSION TO BETHLEHEM.

353

CHAPTER XVI.

VISIT TO BETHLEHEM-THE FEAST OF NATIVITY-BEAUTY OF THE BETHLEHEMITES.

AT four o'clock P.M. we left the Jaffa gate, and, crossing the Valley of Hinnom, took a south course to Bethlehem. The road was thronged with people hastening to the festival like ourselves. The way, though at times rocky, is generally good, and the plains permit rapid riding. About four miles and a half from the city we passed Rachel's tomb on our right; but, intending to examine it on our return, we hastened on, and after riding three-quarters of a mile farther approached the city of the Saviour's nativity. The sun had just set. The air was pleasant, the atmosphere clear, and the evening star brightly shining through the yellow sky of the west and considerably above the horizon. All was serenely beautiful; and, having allowed my companions to pass on, I commenced singing that beautiful hymn,—

"Brightest and best of the Sons of the morning,

Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid," &c.

The hills answered to my voice; and, on looking behind, I found that I had been unconsciously at the head of a procession, an Armenian bishop being one of my

354

THIEF IN THE CONVENT.

followers, together with a number of natives in Arab costumes, quietly permitting me to lead the way into the arched entrance to the village.

We arrived at the convent at thirty minutes after five o'clock. The place was crowded. Hundreds were there from all parts; and, after waiting a short time, we were shown up-stairs into a plain room with a stone floor, containing five beds,-a few planks on iron trestles serving for bedsteads. After waiting a short time, we were invited down to a convent-dinner, which, like the one at Nazareth, consisted principally of macaroni or vermicelli soup; but the vermicelli was, as one of our half-educated servants said, "biled" in "ile," and was indescribably unpalatable, because, being fast-day, the monks were not allowed to let us have any "butter, milk, or meat." We made a pitiful repast, however, upon a few fish from Jaffa and some bread. After

a short rest on our trestle-bedsteads, we were roused to attend service, when I found that some thief had made away with a little silver compass I had purchased in Sheffield, (Eng.,) to use when on horseback. It was irrecoverably gone, with the guard-chain to which it was attached; and no one knew any thing about it.

At ten o'clock we descended to the church, which is enclosed by the convent-walls. The larger room of the convent is ornamented with high but somewhat disproportionate Corinthian columns; and adjoining is the smaller chapel, where the services had already commenced. The interior presents a singular scene of drapery, lighted candles, canopies, old paintings, columns, and frescoes;

A STRANGE SCENE.

355

and a perfect floor of turbans and little red Syrian Fez caps is before us, and more turbans are moving in through the doors. Among the crowd a European dress is occasionally seen; but the spectators in a very great majority are Syrians. And now the music on the organ becomes rather cheerful than sacred, and the priests are assembling and the "performances" in progress. If it were not for the fact that every impres sion which legitimately follows all we hear and see is in diametrical opposition to every idea of devotion, an intelligent worshipper would be so pained by incongruities that he would be driven away from the place by his own sense of the irreverence of the scene. This is the vicinity of the spot where the Saviour was born. This is near to the place where the angels sang the first heavenly song that ever was recorded,-a song of the triumph of God's mercy and of his justice too,-and this the night of the commemoration of such scenes and such holy and glorious consequences. I could have given my soul up to the rapture of such thoughts had there been a correspondence in the form of worship and in the music; but it was not possible to feel so. The scene was so utterly at variance with all I had anticipated that for a time I was forced to forget even that I was in a church, or at Bethlehem, or in Palestine at all. Before the spectators were the priests and the paraphernalia of the altar. Over it was a small organ, the tones of which were tolerable. At first a Te Deum and some uncertain chants were played, and the impression was almost devotional; but soon the character of the music became that of