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and admittance to the enclosure and to the building has always
been extremely difficult, requiring an order from the Governor of
the city. The eclipse of the Turkish power and consequence by the allies
having assumed their defense against Russia had rendered a visit
to every holy place much more easy than in ordinary times, and we
could have seen the interior of the mosque by paying a sovereign a piece,
but by this time my curiosity as to things Turkish had been very much
satisfied, and we preferred to keep our gold for some more useful purpose.
I afterwards met a traveller who had examined the marvelous rock
and he explained that it remained suspended in mid air by being
supported on several small columns carefully placed underneath.

At one point in the surrounding wall of the temple enclos-
ure are certain very large stones which belonged to one of the Jewish
Temples. These are called the stones of wailing, and on a certain day
in each week the Jews collect there and lament over the departed
greatness of their country.

The valley of Jehosaphat is a ravine between the city and the Mount of
olives on the north, and on the outside of the northern wall is the
pool of Siloam, a sort of excavation in the rock which contains some dirty
water. As the place for a bath it did not look inviting, and if it was the
general washing place for the poor of ancient Jerusalem, there must have
been a considerable amount of skin diseases among them in consequence. The Garden
of Gethsemine is a small enclosure containing a few old and knarled
olive trees near the bottom of the ravine. X

The only excursion we made from Jerusalem was to the Dead Sea by way
of Nazareth and the Greek monastery of Marsaba. We left after break-
fast, and by 1 o’clock we were at Nazareth, where there is a large church
and under it in a kind of cellar, the place where they say our Saviour
was born. I bought there a couple of prettily carved mother of pearl shells
with the last supper of Veronese in relief of each one, but they were
lost during our war. We then continued our journey and arrived
at sunset at the Monastery. We were provided with a letter from the
Greek patriarch of Jerusalem, and when we reached the entrance of the
enclosure a basket was let down from a window in an adjacent tower
into which we placed our letter, and in a few moments we were ad-
mitted. The room assigned to us was in a detached stone building on
the floor of which we slept, lying on a couple of blankets. We were
waited upon by a lay brother of the fraternity who upon our arrival
brought us a bottle of arrack or saki, a distillation from rice, from
which we both helped ourselves to a little glass, the lay member also
taking several glasses. I was surprised at the excellence of the
liquid and have often desired since to taste it again.

The atmosphere of the Mediterranean countries and especially that
of Palestine is very clear, so that places which seem near are at
a considerable distance. When I looked at the location of the Dead
Sea from Jerusalem I thought it quite near when it was really far off.
During the night at Marsaba I walked out and looked at the
stars and thought them brighter than I had ever seen them. Other
travellers have noticed the same thing.

We left our quarters before day, our horses having been accommodated
also in the monastery. Our guide was an Armenian who offered himself

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