dern city. And this, with the united ones of Acre, Moriah, and Bezetha on the opposite side of the valley, forming but two conspicuous bills, agrees perfectly with all the Scriptural accounts, as well as those of profane historians.' (See Tacitus. lib. v. c. 11.). Upon " the sides of the North," or the northern side of this mountain, Zion would in this case be properly described as lying, although southward of Jerusalem. All round its sides, but particularly on that facing the valley or ravine which separates the two hills, both Dr. Clarke and the present Traveller noticed numerous excavations made in the lateral surface of the rock. Over one of these is an inscription deeply carved in two places, which is still legible,+THC ATAIC CIWN" Of the holy Zion."

The affix of the cross,' remarks our Author, proves it to have been a Christian inscription, if it be coeval with the letters in point of age. The work of the excavation itself might, however, have been Jewish; and indeed, from its situation on Mount Zion, and its numerous subterranean chambers and apartments, it might have been one of the early sepulchres of the Israelites, used for Christian burial after Sion had become desolate. That of David, which the rest probably resembled in their general form, is described as having many rooms; for both Antiochus and Herod are said (by Josephus) to have opened several of these, and yet neither of them came at the coffins of the kings themselves, for their bodies were buried under the earth so artfully, that they did not appear even to those who entered into their monuments.'

Now, in the hill commonly called Sion, over one part of which the present wall of the city actually goes, there are no sepulchres known. Those found on the north of the city, and called the tombs of the Kings, must have been without the town, and are seated almost in a plain. They are even now at a good distance from the northern boundary of the modern city, notwithstanding that the town has been thought to have encreased so much in that direction, as to include places formerly without it. It is quite certain that these were not the sepulchres of (the kings of) Israel and Judah within Mount Zion.'

Pococke expresses the disappointment which has been felt by every traveller, in searching, in the hill now called Mount Zion, for the sepulchres of the Jewish kings. Those described by Dr. Clarke, correspond both in their situation and their structure, and some of them in their magnitude, to the places of regal sepulture, If, however, they were, as he affirms, situate ⚫ out of the ancient city, as they now are out of the modern,' it is not here that we must look for the sepulchres of the kings of Israel, who were buried in the city of David. But we apprehend that the excavations in question must have been within the wall which encompassed the whole city; and if so, they can be no other than royal sepulchres. For this reason, we are not ' au'thorised to look there for the sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathea ;'

and therefore, Dr. Clarke's hypothesis with regard to the situation of Calvary, falls to the ground. What is now called Mount Sion, must always have been within the walls. But the rocks above the valley of Jehoshaphat on the eastern side of Jeru-' salem, which must have been without the city, are not liable to this objection, and it is in the valley of Jehoshaphat, rather than in the Tyropæon, that the place of sepulture must be sought for.

There is one remaining mode of proof which, had we the requisite data, would at once determine the question. The circumference of Jerusalem in the time of Josephus, was thirty-three urlongs, or nearly four miles and a half; and the wall of circumvallation constructed by Titus, is said to have been nearly five miles. The area which the present city covers, according to Pococke and Maundrell, does not exceed two miles and a half in circumference, or little more than half the space occupied by the ancient city. Yet, its eastern and western limits appear not to admit of any material variation; and on the North, it is said to have gained. What remains unenclosed of the southern part of the supposititious Zion, will by no means make up for the difference of extent between the ancient and the modern cities. But we have no plans of sufficient accuracy, to ascertain, whether, by including the mountain on the South of the interjacent valley, we shall have an area corresponding to the measurements of the ancient Jerusalem. The plan of the modern city and the surrounding mountains, contained in the present volume, would seem to favour such a supposition; but we hesitate to place implicit dependence on its minute accuracy.

The only objection to this topographical arrangement, is the supposed identity of the valley of Hinnoin, and what Josephus terms the valley of the cheesemongers, or the Tyropæon. But we are satisfied that the former appellation is incorrectly applied to the valley between the two hills. The valley of Hinnom must have been, as Eusebius places it, eastward of Jerusalem, since Jeremiah is commanded to "go forth unto the valley of the son "of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the East gate."* From the account given of the boundaries of Judah and Benjamin, the mountain which we are now to consider as Mount Zion, appears also to have been westward of the valley of Hinnom; not, as Mr. Buckingham's plan makes it, southward. Further, the prediction, that the days should come when it should "no "more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, "but the valley of slaughter, for they shall bury in Tophet, till "there be no place," seems to correspond in a very remarkable manner with the valley of Jehoshaphat, as described by our Author, which lies eastward of the city.

* Jer. xix. 2. f Jer. vii. 31.

We now entered that part of the valley of Jehoshaphat, properly so considered by the Jews; it being a deep ravine between the foot of Mount Moriah on the west, where the temple of Solomon once stood, and on which the eastern front of the city walls now lead along, and the foot of the Mount of Olives on the east, commencing from that part of the same hill described before as the Mountain of Offence. In the rainy season, this narrow bed is filled by a torrent which is still called the Brook of Kedron; but it was at the period of our visit perfectly dry. This confined space is nearly covered with the grave-stones of Jews, with inscriptions in Hebrew characters; as it is esteemed among them one of the greatest blessings, to end their days at Jerusalem, and to obtain a burial in the valley of Jehoshaphat. For this purpose, the more devout among them come from distant parts of the world, and it is certain that immense prices are paid by them for the privilege of depositing their bones in this venerated spot. p. 190.

If, too, Gihon or Gehinnon be, as Mr. Buckingham contends, no other than the Hinnom of the Scriptures, and Gihon be the fountain of Siloah, as the Rabbinical authorities cited by Cellarius, warrant us in concluding, the fountain where Solomon was anointed king over Israel (1 Kings i. 33.), there can be no doubt of its being the same as the valley of Kedron or of Jehoshaphat. The expression of Josephus, that the valley of the cheesemongers extended as far as Siloam, far from proving its identity with the valley of Hinnom, would only prove its eastern boundary to have been determined by the fountain. Accordingly, Dr. Clarke informs us, that what Sandys calls the valley of Gehinnon, that is, the Tyropæon, does terminate with the fountain Siloah. The real Hinnom of the Scriptures, in which was Tophet, was certainly without the city, and eastward of the city; for it is said: "The high places that were before the city, "which were on the right hand of the Mount of Corruption"did the king defile."* That Mount is elsewhere described as "the hill that is before Jerusalem,"+-that is, the Mount of Olives; and the high places were southward of that mount, yet still "before" or eastward of the city: which fixes "the place of Tophet" in the valley of Hinnom on the East of Zion. This is that place of death and defilement where still the Jews continue, in fulfilment of the ancient prediction, to bury. Here, probably, was Calvary; here Stephen, perhaps, was cast out and stoned; and in the opposite rocks was hewn the new tomb in which our Lord lay. There is at least some satisfaction in believing that those places have never been violated and metamorphosed by Pagan, Saracen, or Christian invaders. Fanaticism has, happily, missed its way, and the blind have followed the blind. There, is therefore, little occasion to apply to the now deserted city of David, or to some of the most inte

66

2 Kings, xxii. 13. 1 Kings, xi. 7.

resting spots in its vicinity, the exclamation cited by Sandys from the Roman satirist :

Quanto præstantius esset

Numen aquæ, viridi si margine clauderet undas Herba, nec ingenuum violarent marmora tophum.' The features of Nature,' as Dr. Clarke remarks,

continue

the same, although works of art have been done away. The 'beautiful gate of the Temple is no more; but Siloa's fountain haply flows, and Kedron sometimes murmurs in the valley of Jehoshaphat. Not only so, but the olive still flourishes spontaneously on the olive-bearing mount; and there are still left undefaced the most appropriate monuments of Jerusalem-her sepulchres.

Mr. Buckingham had not, we strongly suspect, read Dr. Clarke's Travels, when he visited Jerusalem. If he had, he would have turned even the short stay and superficial survey which he made there, to better account. He has, after all, added but little to the information for which we are indebted to that accomplished Traveller; but for that little we are thankful. We must now hasten to notice very briefly the remainder of our Author's route. He left Jerusalem in company with Mr. Bankes, with the intention of crossing the Jordan, and passing through Tiberias to Aleppo. The wild and gloomy valleys through which the road from Jerusalem to Jericho lies, made our Author feel, he says, most forcibly, the propriety of such a scene being chosen to illustrate the compassion of the good Samaritan. The road is held to be the most dangerous in Palestine, and the whole aspect of the country is grand but desolate. The site of Jericho, hitherto fixed at Ribbah, be considers to be indicated by some widely extended heaps and ruins, at a spot overbung by the barren hills of Judea, more to the West, about twenty miles from Jerusalem, and within six miles of the Jordan. At Ribhah, there are no remains. The Jordan, our Author describes in much the same terms as Maundrell. After crossing a range of limestone hills on the other side of that river, the general elevation of which is about a thousand feet, they arrived at a second range, apparently containing particles of iron ore; both almost entirely barren, and running nearly North and South. Immediately beyond this second range, there extend elevated plains of nearly as high a level, the character of which Mr. B. describes as quite different from any thing he had hitherto seen in Palestine.

We were now in a land of extraordinary richness, abounding with the most beautiful prospects, clothed with thick forests, varied with verdant slopes, and possessing extensive plains of a fine red soil, now covered with thistles as the best proof of its fertility, and yielding in nothing to the celebrated plains of Zabulon and Esdraelon, in Galilee and Samaria.'

Beyond these plains, a series of gentle ascents in a north-east, direction through a luxuriant country, brought them to a deep ravine, at the bottom of which runs a clear and rapid stream called by the Arabs the river of Zerkab, and supposed by our Author to be the Jabbok, which formed the northern boundary of the Amorites. The Travellers now entered the land of Gilead or Bashan, the country of the Decapolis, and beheld with surprise regions which have been supposed desert, covered with a fertile soil, clothed with forests, and presenting the most magnificent landscapes. The oak is still frequently seen, verifying the prophetical reference, Ezek. xxvii. 6.; and we could now fully comprehend,' says Mr. Buckingham, not only that the 'bulls of this luxuriant country might be proverbially fat, but that its possessors too might be a race renowned for strength and comeliness of person.' Advancing still in a north-east direction, the general face of the country continued to improve in the appearance of cultivation and picturesque grandeur; and our Author may almost be suspected of dwelling with peculiar zest and self-gratulation on the magnificent, luxuriant, and wildly beautiful scenes which he and his companion were the The first Englishmen who had explored in modern times. peculiar richness of this district as "a land for cattle," is indicated, Numbers, xxxii. 1-5., and Micah, vii. 14. In the village of Boorza, seated on the brow of a hill, Mr. B, assigns his reasons for recognising the city Bosor of Jewish history; and at Ramza and Jehaz, about three miles further, are ruins, which possibly mark the site of Ramoth Gilead and Jabesh Gilead, as their relative situation appears to correspond with the imperfect data on which their distance must be calculated, and the names are sufficiently similar to the ancient appellations, to be a corruption of them.

On the fourth day after quitting Jerusalem, having crossed another stream or torrent called Nahr-el-Zebeen, which appeared to them to be only a more northern portion of the Jabbok, they arrived at the splendid ruins of Gerash or Geraza, first discovered by Dr. Seetzen. Of these, we are furnished with a minute description, aided by a plan of the city and of some of the principal buildings, which extends to sixty pages. Our Author suggests that in Jerash, we may have preserved the Gergashi or Jeshuri of the Hebrews. They passed the night at the village, of Soof, and thence proceeding in a north-west direction, leaving the mountains of Nablous in the distance on their left, they continued their route through the most beautifully wooded scenery.

Mr. Bankes, who had seen the whole of England, the greater part of Italy and France, and almost every province of Spain and Portúgal, frequently remarked, that in all his travels, he had met with

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