above the castle; its superabundant waters being turned off at three points as above described, in order to aid in filling these great reservoirs; while these latter again, in time of need, could be drawn off gradually to supply the aqueduct. They thus form all together an immense work, which is still of incalculable importance to Bethlehem, and might easily be made so to Jerusalem.-The form and general course of the aqueduct, and its termination in Jerusalem, have already been described; and all the historical traces that I have been able to find relating either to the aqueduct or the pools, have in like manner been given.1 We left the pools at 3 o'clock for the Frank Mountain; returning for ten minutes by the way we came, and then striking down to the ruined village of Urtâs near the bottom of the valley, which we reached at 3h 35'. The place is still inhabited, though the houses are in ruins; the people dwelling in caverns among the rocks of the steep declivity. Here are manifest traces of a site of some antiquity,—the foundations of a square tower, a low thick wall of large squared stones, rocks hewn and scarped, and the like. If we are to look anywhere in this quarter for Etam, which was decorated by Solomon with gardens and streams of water, and fortified by Rehoboam along with Bethlehem and Tekoa; and whence too, according to the Rabbins, water was carried by an aqueduct to Jerusalem; I know of no site so probable as this spot. The fountain here sends forth a copious supply of fine water, and forms a beautiful purling rill along the bottom of the valley. This to me was the more delightful, as being the first I had seen in Asia. 1) See Vol. I. pp. 514-16. 2) See the historical references in Vol. I. p. 515. The monks make the gardens below to be the hortus conclusus garden enclosed,' of Cant. iv. 12. Quaresmius II. p. 764. After stopping here five minutes, we passed down the valley on a general course about E. S. E. along the streamlet, and through the midst of gardens and fields fertilized by its waters. In the valley and on the hills were flocks of sheep and goats mingled together; and this would seem to have been also the patriarchal mode of pasturage. The sheep of Palestine are all of the broad-tailed species; the broad part being a mere excrescence of fat, with the proper tail hanging out of it. A few camels were also seen, and many neat cattle, all looking in fine case; thus showing that this is a good grazing district, however rocky and sterile it may be in appearance. The little stream was soon absorbed in the thirsty gravelly soil of the valley, and the gardens ceased. Our Sheikh had been all day unwell, and now became quite ill; so that we persuaded him to mount the horse of one of our servants. At a quarter past four, the valley turned more to the right, and we sent off our servants and baggage with the Sheikh to the encampment of his tribe, where we had concluded to pass the night. The Sheikh had told us that he would kill a sheep for us, if we would do him this honour. Taking with us the other attendants, we now struck up the hill-side on the left to the high table-land above, and so continued our course towards the Frank Mountain. Crossing another small Wady running down S. E. to the Urtâs, we had at 4h 50' the foundations of a ruined village on our left, called el-Munettisheh. The hills around, though now desolate and arid, had once been built up in terraces and cultivated. At 5h 10' we reached the base of the mountain; which bears in Arabic, for what reason I know not, the name elFureidîs, a diminutive of the word signifying Paradise. The mountain here rises steep and round, precisely like a volcanic cone, but truncated. The height above the base cannot be less than from three to four hundred feet; and the base itself has at least an equal elevation above the bottom of Wady Ŭrtâs in the Southwest; towards which there is a more gradual descent. There are traces of terraces around the foot of the mountain, but not higher up; and even these would seem to have been intended for cultivation rather than for defence. We did not notice any road to the top, nor any fosse upon the South, as described by Pococke;1 though our attention was not particularly drawn to these points. Indeed the sides of the mountain above, present now no appearance of any thing artificial. Just on our left, in the direction N. N. W. from the mountain, a large tract had once been levelled off and built up on the eastern side with a wall. the midst of this tract was a large reservoir, some two hundred feet square, now dry; and in the middle of it a square mound like an island. There seemed also to be ancient foundations round about; though we did not remark the church of which Pococke speaks; and traces of an aqueduct were seen coming from the North. In Leaving here our horses, a steep ascent of ten minutes brought us to the top of the mountain, which constitutes a circle of about seven hundred and fifty feet in circumference. The whole of this is enclosed by the ruined walls of a circular fortress, built of hewn stones of good size, with four massive round towers standing one at each of the cardinal points. Either the ruins have formed a mound around the circumference, or the middle part of the enclosure was once excavated; it is now considerably deeper than the circumference. The tower upon the East is not so 1) Descr. of the East, II. p. 42. fol. thoroughly destroyed as the rest; and in it a magazine or cistern may still be seen.1 This mountain commands, of course, a very extensive view towards the North; less so towards the South and West; while on the East, the prospect is bounded by the mountains of Moab beyond the Dead Sea. A slight haze prevented us from distinguishing the site of Taiyibeh and also Kerak. In the view of the Dead Sea I was greatly disappointed. I had hoped to have got sight here perhaps of both its extremities; or at least to have ascertained some other high points from which that would be possible; but we found that very little more of its surface is visible from this spot, than is seen from the Mount of Olives. The mountain is too far from the sea to command a view over it; and other mountains intervene, which, though rugged and desolate, are low; so that while they serve to shut out the prospect, they present among themselves no better point of view.2 The present name of the "Frank Mountain" is known only among the Franks; and is founded on a report current among them, that this post was maintained by the crusaders for forty years after the fall of Jerusalem. But, to say nothing of the utter silence of all the historians of the crusades, both Christian and Muhammedan, as to any occupation whatever of this post by either party, it is justly remarked by Irby and Mangles, that "the place is too small ever to have 1) The Frank Mountain has not usually been ascended by travellers. Among the few who speak of having been upon it, are Von Troilo, Nau, le Brun, Pococke, Irby and Mangles, and some others. 2) We took on the Frank Mountain the following bearings: Abu Nujeim a Wely, W. Bethlehem N. 27° W. Beit Såhûr N. 21° W. (This is the Bethsaon of Pococke, II. p. 34.) Beit Ta'mar N. 20° W. Mår Elyas N. 16° W. Neby 3) Some say by the Knights of St. John. Most travellers who mention the report, seem to doubt its truth. Von Troilo, p. 314. Pococke II. p. 42. fol. 221 contained half the number of men, which would have been requisite to make any stand in such a country; and the ruins, though they might be those of a place once defended by the Franks, appear to have had an earlier origin, as the architecture seems to be Roman." The present appellation appears to have sprung up near the close of the seventeenth century. Before that time most travellers who mention the mountain, call it Bethulia, and give the same name to the ruins at its foot; though on what conceivable ground this latter name was adopted, I have not been able to dis cover. The earliest direct mention of the mountain in modern times, as well as of this story of the Franks, is apparently by Felix Fabri in A. D. 1483. According to him the Franks had plenty of water in cisterns, and land enough within the fortress to raise corn and wine and fruits sufficient for each year; and they might have held out indefinitely, had not a pestilence broken out among them after thirty years, and destroyed most of the men and all their wives and daughters; after which the remnant withdrew to other lands.4 Subsequent travellers have repeated this report in different forms; but all the circumstances lead only to the conclusion, that it is in all likelihood a legend of the fifteenth century.5 1) Travels, etc. p. 340. 2) I have not found it in any writer earlier than le Brun, Voyage p. 279. So Maundrell, Mar. 31st. Morison, p. 487. 3) So Felix Fabri in 1483, Reissh. p. 287. Zuallardo, p. 218. Quaresmius II. p. 687. Doubdan, p. 366. Von Troilo, p. 313. Morison has both names, p. 487. Rauwolf, and also Cotovicus, confound this mountain with Tekoa; Reissb. p. 645. Cotovic. p. 225.-Brocardus speaks of a collis Achillae" over against Tekoa, c. IX. p. 184. This Breydenbach and Adrichomius refer to the site of Masada on the Dead Sea; Reissb. p. 132. Adrichom. p. 38. De Salignaco on the contrary seems to make it the Frank Mountain; Tom. X. c. 2. I have not been able to trace this name any further. 4) Reissb. des h. Landes, p. 287. Morison in 1698 makes this story refer to the time of the conquest by Selim in 1517! Relat. p. 487. I cannot find that Quaresmius mentions the story. 5) Compare the similar legend |