upper The pools Near the feet eight inches, of which the water occupied not quite seven feet. These reservoirs seemed to furnish the chief, if not the sole supply of the town at the time; and were constantly frequented by persons carrying away the water in skins. That of the pool seemed to be neither clear nor clean. were said to be filled only from the rains. summit of the hill, north of our tent, was a fine cool fountain, from which we obtained our supply; it is sunk in the ground and arched over, with a flight of steps by which to descend to it. Just north of the town too, by the side of the road along the bed of the valley, is another small fountain; which seemed to serve chiefly at this season for watering animals. The pools above described are doubtless of high antiquity; and one of them is probably to be regarded as the " pool of Hebron" over which David hanged up the assassins of Ishbosheth. The other alleged antiquities of Hebron, (with the exception of the great mosk,) did not occupy our attention. We neither saw nor inquired after the tomb of Abner, nor that of Jesse, nor the red earth of which Adam was formed, nor the place where Cain slew Abel, nor various other legendary spots mentioned by early and later travellers. The place called by the Jews the "House of Abraham," an hour from Hebron towards Jerusalem, with the remains of massive walls, has already been described, as the probable site of what was held to be Mamre in the early Christian ages.2 The great Haram, or rather the exterior wall which encloses the mosk, constitutes the most remarkable object in Hebron, and one of the most so in all Palestine. It is also one of the most sacred places of 1) 2 Sam. iv. 12. 2) See Vol. I. PP. 317-319. The same spot and walls are also VOL. II. 55 described by Von Troilo as Mamre; Oriental. Reisebeschr. p. 319. Dresd. 1676. the Muhammedans; being held to cover the sepulchre of Abraham and the other patriarchs. We had looked at it with some care in our previous visit; and it was now one of the first things to claim our further attention. On our way thither this morning, we called at the house of Elias in the north part of the main quarter, to pay him our respects in return for his kindness. We found that he and his family had already gone out to spend the day under the great oak, which we had passed yesterday; and had left an invitation for us to join them there, and breakfast with them at a later hour. We then proceeded to the mosk. The exterior has the appearance of a large and lofty building in the form of a parallelogram; its longest dimension being along the valley from N. N. W. to S. S. E. and not as in most ancient churches from W. to E. We measured on a line parallel to its eastern side and southern end, as near to it as we could; though not without some hints to desist, from an old man or two who came along. The length proved to be nearest two hundred feet, and the breadth one hundred and fifteen feet. The height cannot be less than fifty or sixty feet. The walls are built of very large stones, all bevelled and hewn smooth; and similar in all respects to the most ancient parts of the walls around the Haram at Jerusalem. But they are not in general so large, nor is the bevelling so deep.' The architecture has this peculiarity, that the walls are built up externally with square pilasters, sixteen on each side and eight at each end, without capitals, except a sort of cornice which extends along the whole building. Above this, the walls have been raised by the Muslims 1) According to Irby and Mangles, and also Mr. Legh, some of these stones are upwards of twenty-five feet in length; Travels p. 343. Legh under May 8th. We did not notice any larger than about eighteen feet. eight or ten feet higher, with a small turret or mina ret at each corner. There are no windows in any part of these walls. The places of entrance are at the two northern corners, where a long and broad flight of steps of very gentle ascent, built up and covered along each side of the building externally, leads to a door in each wall opening into the court within. That at the N. W. corner seemed to be the principal entrance, merely perhaps as being the most conveniently situated. The building stands upon the slope of the eastern hill; the rocks having been excavated along the upper side, in order to lay the foundations. According to all accounts, the structure here described, including all that is visible from without, is merely an exterior enclosure of walls, around a court within. In this court stands the much smaller mosk, which is said to have been once a Christian church.' Here in different parts, the Muhammedans have built tombs for the patriarchs; while their actual place of sepulchre is held to be in a cavern below, which even the faithful are not permitted to enter. But as the jealous bigotry of the Mussulmans of Hebron precludes all admittance to Franks and Christians; and the height of the exterior wall prevents any view of the interior, even from the adjacent hill; we are yet without any intelligible description of the mosk and its appurtenances, and know nothing at all of the cavern which thus represents the cave of Machpelah.3 1) Life of Giovanni Finati, edited by Mr. Bankes, Vol. II. p. 236. Finati as a Mussulman entered the mosk. 2) "All the sepulchres of the patriarchs are covered with rich carpets of green silk, magnificently embroidered with gold; those of their wives are red, embroidered in like manner. The Sultans of Constantinople furnish these carpets, which are renewed from time to time. I counted nine, one over the other, upon the sepulchre of Abraham. The rooms also which contain the tombs, are covered with carpets." Ali Bey's Travels II. p. 233. 3) The only Europeans, who have entered this Haram, are the Spaniard Badia (Ali Bey) travelling as a Mussulman, and Giovanni The outer structure thus described, evidently belongs to a high antiquity; and the resemblance of its architecture to that of the remains of the ancient temple at Jerusalem, seems to point to a Jewish origin.1 Yet we have no certain accounts of it; and all we can learn respecting it, is from a few scattered hints in ancient writers, which merely serve to cast a further gleam of probability upon this conclusion. As a matter of course, monastic tradition refers the edifice to Helena, as one of her churches; but for this, as we have seen, there is not the slightest ground;2 while the form, direction, and elevation of the structure, and especially the absence of windows, all go to show, that these walls were never any thing more than what they are at present, an exterior enclosure around an inner edifice or court. I know of nothing that should lead us to question the correctness of the tradition, which regards this as the place of sepulchre of Abraham and the other patriarchs, as recorded in the book of Genesis. On the contrary, there is much to strengthen it. Josephus relates, that Abraham and his descendants erected monuments over the sepulchres in question; which . 1 Finati, the Italian servant of Mr. Bankes. The account of the latter is exceedingly brief; and that of the former, besides being brief, is so confused, that I can make out nothing either from his description or his plates. Ali Bey, Vol. II. pp. 232, 233.-Monro gives a more intelligible account; but as he does not mention the source of his information, we are still left in the dark as to its credibility; he speaks indeed as if from personal observation, for which most assuredly he never had an opportunity; nor does he indeed expressly say so; Summer Ramble I. p. 243, seq. Yet Raumer, and after him Schubert, incorrectly assume, that he had visited the interior; Raumer Palaest. p. 199. n. Schubert's Reise II. p. 473-Benjamin of Tudela professes to give a description of the cavern, in which he says are deposited vast quantities of the bones of Jews; Voyages, etc. par Baratier I. p. 99, seq. 1) So too Mr. Legh: "From the general aspect of the building, resembling neither Grecian, Roman, nor early Christian architecture, it seemed to me to be possibly of Jewish origin." May 8th. Bibl. Repos. Oct. 1833, p. 620. 2) See above, pp. 16, 17. 3) Gen. c. xxiii. xxv. 9. xlix. 30, 31. 1. 13. implies at least, that in his day the place was marked by some ancient memorial. In another passage he says expressly, that the sepulchres of the patriarchs were still seen in Hebron, built of marble and of elegant workmanship. In the days of Eusebius and Jerome, the monument of Abraham was yet pointed out; and the Bourdeaux pilgrim in A. D. 333, describes it as a quadrangle, built of stones of admirable beauty.3 This description appears to me, without much doubt, to refer to the exterior structure, as we see it now; and I venture to suppose, that this existed already in the days of Josephus and probably much earlier; and was either itself the monument referred to by him, or perhaps the sacred enclosure within which the tombs of the patriarchs were erected. The whole appearance of the building, as well as its architecture, leads decidedly to such a conclusion. The next notice we have of the sepulchre of the patriarchs is from Antoninus Martyr, not long before the Muhammedan conquest. He describes a " Basilica" upon the spot, a quadrangle with an interior court open to the sky, into which Jews and Christians entered from different sides, burning incense as they advanced.4 Arculfus visited Hebron near the close of the seventh century; he describes the several sepulchres themselves as small and mean; the feet being turned, not as usual towards the East, but towards the South; they were situated about a stadium from ancient Hebron towards the East, and surrounded by a low wall. In the latter half of the eighth century, 1) Antiq. I. 14. B. J. IV. 9. 7. 2) Onomast. art. Arboch (Aoxo). The church described by Jerome in the same article, was at the Terebinth; Eusebius does not mention it. 3) "Inde Therebinto Chebron, Mil. II. Ubi est memoria per qua drum ex lapidibus mirae pulchritu- 4) Antonini Mart. Itin. 30. |