in the city; and the building is understood to be now

in progress.

The Christians of the Latin rite live around the Latin convent, on which they are wholly dependent. They are native Arabs; know no other language than the Arabic; and are said to be descended from Catholic converts in the times of the crusades. They are in number about 1,100 souls, according to the preceding estimate; and live partly by carving crosses and beads for rosaries, and partly on the alms of the convent.'The Latin convent in Jerusalem, like all those in the Holy Land, is in the hands of the Franciscans, or Minorites, of the class termed Fratres Minores ab Observantia. I have already mentioned their former residence on Mount Zion, and their removal to the present building in A. D. 1561.2 This convent contains at present between forty and fifty monks, half Italians and half Spaniards; and takes rank of all the other Catholic monasteries in the East. In it resides the Intendant or Principal of all the Convents, with the rank of an Abbot, and the title of " Guardian of Mount Zion and Custos of the Holy Land." He is always an Italian; and is appointed or at least confirmed at Rome every three years. The same individual is sometimes reappointed. There is also a Vicar, called likewise President, who takes the place of the Guardian in case of his absence or death. He is chosen in like manner for three years; and may be an Italian or a Spaniard. The Procurator, who manages the

1) Salzbacher gives the number at 1,500. Other native Catholics are found also in connection with the Latin convents at Bethlehem and Nazareth.

2) See above, Vol. I. p. 358, Note 3.

3) "Guardianus sacri Montis

Sion et Custos (Praesul) Terrae Sanctae;" Quaresmius, Tom. I. p. 465.

4) "Vicarius sive Praeses;" Quaresmius I. p. 468. Formerly the Vicar was usually a French monk; but this seems no longer to be the case. Scholz, p. 195.

temporal concerns, is always a Spaniard; and is elected for life. The executive council, called Discretorium, is composed of these three officials, and of three other monks, Patres discreti.

The cost of maintaining the twenty convents belonging to the establishment of the "Terra Santa," is rated at 40,000 Spanish dollars per annum. They are said to be very deeply in debt, contracted in former years, when the wars in Europe cut off for a time their usual eleemosynary supplies. Under the Egyptian government, they are freed from the numerous exactions to which they were formerly subjected from the caprice and greediness of pashas and governors; and pay a regular tax for the property which they possess. For their buildings and lands in and around Jerusalem, including the holy places, the annual tax is said to be 7,000 Piastres, or about 350 Spanish dollars.1

The Christians of the Greek rite (not monks) are all native Arabs; have their own native priests; and enjoy the privilege of having the service in their churches performed in their own mother-tongue, the Arabic. They amount in Jerusalem to nearly 2,000 souls.-The Greek convents are tenanted by foreign

1) See Scholz Reise, p. 194, seq. Salzbacher Erinnerungen, II. p. 92, seq. The amount of the present tax is given on the authority of the latter writer; who as Canon of St. Stephen's Cathedral at Vienna, and a Catholic pilgrim of rank, may be supposed to have had access to the best information. Yet I am not sure that this alleged sum of 7,000 Piastres (like so many other things) is not copied by him from Scholz, who was there in A. D. 1821; p. 197.-The following list of the Catholic convents now connected with that of Jerusalem, is from the same authority: BethVOL. II.

12

lehem; St. John's in the Desert, an hour and a half S. W. of Jerusalem; Ramleh, Yâfa, Haifa, 'Akka, Nazareth, Sidon, Beirût, Tripolis, Larissa, Aleppo, Damascus, and one on Mount Lebanon; also in Alexandria, Rosetta, and Cairo in Egypt; and in Larnaka and Nicosia on the island of Cyprus. In Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth, half the monks are Italians and half Spaniards; in Yâfa, Ramleh, and St. John, they are all Spaniards; and in the other convents all Italians. The whole number of monks is about two hundred.

ers, all Greeks by birth, mostly from the Archipelago, speaking only the Greek language. There are eight convents for men, containing in all about sixty monks, viz. the great convent of Constantine near the Church of the Sepulchre, in which most of the monks and the officials reside; and those of Demetrius, Theodorus (Arabic Tâdrus), George, Michael, Nicolas, Johannes, and George in the Jewish quarter. All these minor establishments are chiefly used for the accommodation of pilgrims, and are kept by only one or two monks and lay brethren. There are also five convents of Greek nuns, containing in all about thirty-five, who are foreigners like the monks; viz. those of the Holy Virgin (Panagia, Arabic es-Seideh), Basil, Catharine, Euthymius, and another of the Virgin Mary. In the vicinity of Jerusalem the Greeks have also the convents of the Holy Cross (Deir el-Musŭllabeh) about three quarters of an hour W. S. W of the city; that of Mâr Elyâs towards Bethlehem; one at the Grotto of the Nativity at Bethlehem; and the renowned monastery of Mâr Sâba, founded about the beginning of the sixth century, and situated on the continuation of the valley of the Kidron, as it runs off to the Dead Sea.

All these Greek convents in and around the city are under the government of three vicars (Arab. Wakil) of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who himself resides at Constantinople. The present vicars were the Greek bishops of Lydda, Nazareth, and Kerak (Petra). They were assisted by the bishops of Gaza, Nâbulus, es-Salt (i. e. Philadelphia), and Sebaste; who with the Archimandrites form a council. The vicars, with the concurrence of the council, appoint the superiors of the several convents; and all the priests within these dioceses are ordained at Jerusalem. Indeed all the bishops above named live there permanently, in the great convent near the Church of the Sepulchre. The

Greek bishop of 'Akka alone was said to reside in his own diocese.1

The Armenians have their large monastery on Mount Zion, said to be the wealthiest in the city, with the splendid church of St. James. Not far off is a convent of Armenian nuns, called ez-Zeitûny. Outside of the city, on Mount Zion, the pretended house of Caiaphas serves as a smaller convent and is occupied by monks.2 The Armenians are for the most part not natives; and those not attached to the convents, are usually merchants.

The Coptic Christians consist only of monks in their convent of es-Sultân, situated on the north side of the pool of Hezekiah. At the time of our visit, it had just been rebuilt. There is also a convent of the Abyssinians; and we were likewise told of one belonging to the Jacobite Syrians.*

Of these Christian sects, the Greeks, Latins, Armenians, and Copts, have their own Chapels in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; and the three former have also convents or dwellings within the walls of the church, for the monks who are shut up here to perform the regular offices day and night. Along the walls of the circular church around the Sepulchre itself, are niches with altars for several of the minor sects; as the Abyssinians, Jacobites, Nestorians, Maronites, and others; but their service is performed in these chapels only occasionally. It is well known that a deep hatred exists among all these possessors

1) Scholz, p. 205. The preceding information respecting the Greek Christians and convents was obtained from intelligent natives of that persuasion.

539.

2) See above, Vol. I. pp. 538,

3) See Vol. I. p. 488. 4) Scholz, p. 275.

5) These monks are confined to the church, provisions being brought to them daily from their respective convents. The Latin monks are relieved every three months. In 1837, there was only one Copt thus residing in the church. Salzbacher, Vol. II. pp. 77, 82.

of the Holy Sepulchre towards each other. Especially is this the case between the Greeks and Latins; in whom it seems to be irreconcileable, and gives occasion for constant intrigues and bitter complaints on either side. The Greeks have indeed the advantage in their greater cunning; in the far greater number of their pilgrims; and in their proximity to the regions whence their resources are derived. They are consequently enabled to prosecute their purposes more systematically and with greater effect. During the wars in Europe the Latins were comparatively forgotten; their pilgrims dwindled away to nothing; and their resources were in a measure cut off.

The Greeks took occasion of these circumstances to get possession by degrees of many of the holy places, in and around the churches of the Sepulchre and at Bethlehem, which had formerly been in the hands of the Latins; and notwithstanding all the efforts of the latter, these have not yet been recovered. Near the close of the year 1836, the Prince de Joinville, son of the king of France, visited the Holy City; and one of the first requests of the Latin fathers was, that the influence of the French monarch might be employed to recover for them all the sacred places, which the Greeks had so unjustly wrested from them ever since the crusades. The prince promised his support; and a representation is said actually to have been made by the French cabinet to the Turkish court, through their ambassador at Constantinople. A firmân was granted, commanding the Greek patriarch to deliver up to the Latins the possession of the sacred places in question; but still the Greek spirit of intrigue was able to evade the execution. A timely present of some 500 purses' to the governor of Syria, is said to

1) A purse is equivalent to 500 Piastres, or about 25 Spanish dollars.