its head a mile or two westward of the commencement of other vallies, which run to the western sea. From the great plain of Esdraelon onwards towards the South, the mountainous country rises gradually, forming the tract anciently known as the mountains of Ephraim and Judah; until in the vicinity of Hebron it attains an elevation of nearly 3,000 Paris feet above the level of the Mediterranean Sea. Fur-, ther North, on a line drawn from the North end of the Dead Sea towards the true West, the ridge has an elevation of only about 2,500 Paris feet; and here, close upon the water-shed, lies the city of Jerusalem.' Its mean geographical position is in Lat. 31° 46′ 43′′ N. and Long. 35° 13′ E. from Greenwich.2 Six or seven miles N. and N. W. of the city is spread out the open plain or basin round about el-Jîb (Gibeon), extending also towards el-Bîreh (Beeroth); the waters of which flow off at its S. E. part through the deep valley here called by the Arabs Wady Beit Hanîna; but to which the monks and travellers have usually given the name of the Valley of Turpentine, 1) According to Schubert's measurements, the town of Hebron has an elevation of 2664 feet. Russegger gives the same at 2842 feet. Niebuhr The adjacent hills are two or three hundred feet higher.-The height of the Mount of Olives, according to Schubert, is 2555 Paris feet. 2) The Latitude here given is the mean of four observations, viz. 31° 46′ 34′′ Reisebeschr. Bd. III. Anh. S. 116. Zach's Monatl. Corr. XVIII. S. 542. Comm. by Sec. of R. Geogr. Soc. Lond. Journ. of R. Geogr. Soc. Lond. Vol. VII. 1837. p. 456. Seetzen Mean 31° 46′ 43′′ differing only 3" from Corry, and 9" from Niebuhr. The Longitude is that found by Capt. Corry from a lunar observation in 1818, kindly communicated by the Sec. of the R. Geogr. Soc. London. This is the only tolerable observation yet made for the Longitude. Seetzen indeed observed imperfectly at three different times; but his results vary more than a degree from each other. or of the Terebinth, on the mistaken supposition that it is the ancient Valley of Elah.' This great valley passes along in a S. W. direction an hour or more West of Jerusalem; and finally opens out from the mountains into the western plain, at the distance of six or eight hours S. W. from the city, under the name of Wady es-Sărâr. The traveller on his way from Ramleh to Jerusalem, descends into and crosses this deep valley at the village of Kulônieh on its western side, an hour and a half from the latter city. On again reaching the high ground on its eastern side, he enters upon an open tract sloping gradually downwards towards the East; and sees before him, at the distance of about two miles, the walls and domes of the Holy City, and beyond them the higher ridge or summit of the Mount of Olives. The traveller now descends gradually towards the city along a broad swell of ground, having at some distance on his left the shallow northern part of the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and close at hand on his right the basin which forms the beginning of the Valley of Hinnom. Further down, both these vallies become deep, narrow, and precipitous; that of Hinnom bends South and again East nearly at right angles, and unites with the other; which then continues its course to the Dead Sea. Upon the broad and elevated promontory within the fork of these two vallies, lies the Holy City. All around are higher hills; on the East, the Mount of Olives; on the South, the Hill of Evil Counsel, so called, rising directly from the Vale of Hinnom; on the West, the ground rises gently, as above described, to the borders of the great Wady; while on the North, a bend of the ridge connected with the Mount of Olives, bounds the prospect at the distance of more than a mile. Towards the S. W. the 1) 1 Sam. xvii. 2, 19. view is somewhat more open; for here lies the plain of Rephaim, already described,' commencing just at the southern brink of the Valley of Hinnom, and stretching off S. W. where it runs to the western sea. In the N. W. too the eye reaches up along the upper part of the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and, from many points, can discern the mosk of Neby Samwîl, situated on a lofty ridge beyond the great Wady, at the distance of two hours. The surface of the elevated promontory itself, on which the city stands, slopes somewhat steeply towards the East, terminating on the brink of the valley of Jehoshaphat. From the northern part, near the present Damascus Gate, a depression or shallow Wady runs in a southern direction, having on the West the ancient hills of Akra and Zion, and on the East the lower ones of Bezetha and Moriah. Between the hills of Akra and Zion another depression or shallow Wady (still easy to be traced) comes down from near the Yâfa Gate, and joins the former. It then continues obliquely down the slope, but with a deeper bed, in a southern direction quite to the Pool of Siloam and the Valley of Jehoshaphat. This is the ancient Tyropoeon. West of its lower part, Zion rises loftily, lying mostly without the modern city; while on the East of the Tyropoeon and the valley first mentioned, lie Bezetha, Moriah, and Ophel, the last a long and comparatively narrow ridge also outside of the modern city, and terminating in a rocky point over the Pool of Siloam. These three last hills may strictly be taken as only parts of one and the same ridge. The breadth of the whole site of Jerusalem, from the brow of the Valley of Hinnom near the Yâfa Gate to the brink of the Valley of Jehoshaphat, is about 1020 yards, or nearest half a geographical mile; of which dis 1) See above, pp. 323, 324. tance 318 yards is occupied by the area of the great mosk, el-Haram esh-Sherîf. North of the Yâfa Gate the city-wall sweeps round more to the West, and increases the breadth of the city in that part. The country around Jerusalem is all of limestone formation; and not particularly fertile. The rocks everywhere come out above the surface, which in many parts is also thickly strewed with loose stones; and the aspect of the whole region is barren and dreary. Yet the olive thrives here abundantly; and fields of grain are seen in the vallies and level places; but they are less productive than in the region of Hebron and Nâbulus. Neither vineyards nor fig-trees flourish on the high ground around the city; though the latter are found in the gardens below Siloam, and are very frequent in the vicinity of Bethlehem. II. THE CITY, ITS INTERIOR, ETC. The Walls. An inscription in Arabic over the Yâfa Gate, as well as others in various places, records that the present walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt by order of Sultan Suleimân in A. H. 948, corresponding to A. D. 1542.1 They appear to occupy very nearly the site of the former walls of the middle ages, which were several times thrown down and rebuilt during the crusades; a slight deviation only being visible around the N. W. corner, on both the western and northern sides. The materials were probably those of the former walls; and are in great part apparently 1) Or as usually given, A. D. 1543.-Quaresmius assigns the building of the walls to Selim in A. D. 1517; he doubtless could not read the inscriptions. Elucid. II. p. 41.-Belon, who was here about A. D. 1547, mentions that the walls had been recently built up; Observations, etc. p. 143. Paulus' Samml. I. p. 162.-Schweigger in 1576 also ascribes them to Selim, and tells a fabulous story of his causing the lions to be carved over St. Stephen's Gate; Reissbuch des h. Landes, II. p. 122. 2) See further on under "Walls of the Middle Ages." ancient. They consist wholly of hewn stones, in general not very large, laid in mortar. Many of them are bevelled in the manner which will be described hereafter, evincing an antiquity not later than the times of the Romans; and these are intermingled with others plainly hewn, especially in the upper part of the walls. On the eastern side, the wall of the area of the Haram esh-Sherîf, constitutes also the wall of the city for about half the extent upon this side. The same is true of the southern wall of this area for about two hundred yards from its S. E. corner; at which point the city wall comes up at right angles from the South and unites with the former. The parts of the wall thus connected with the mosk, would seem not to have been rebuilt at the same time with the rest; they are apparently older and more dilapidated; although they exhibit an abundance of patchwork. The walls of the city have quite a stately and imposing appearance; all of hewn stone, with towers and battlements; the latter crowning a breastwork with loopholes. This has already been described, as protecting the broad walk along the top of the wall within, to which flights of steps lead up at convenient intervals. The height of the walls on the outside varies much with the inequalities of the ground in different parts, from some twenty to fifty feet. At the N. E. corner and along a portion of the northern side, a trench has been cut in the rock outside, along the wall, apparently as a further defence; but in other places equally exposed, there is no trace of any trench. Indeed the walls of Jerusalem, notwithstanding their elevation and imposing aspect, would probably present no great obstacle to the entrance of a regular besieging army. 1) Notwithstanding the mortar, the walls are full of crevices; furnishing a retreat to multitudes of VOL. I. 49 lizards, which are seen gliding over them in all directions. 2) See above, p. 352. |